LAHORE: Representatives of the Civil Aviation Authority employees have refused to call off their ongoing protest against the outsourcing of major airports.

Federal Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique held a meeting with them at the Mayo Garden here on Sunday and asked them to submit their concerns in writing on Tuesday (tomorrow) to the cabinet committee on airports outsourcing and representatives of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the organisation giving consultancy to the government on the outsourcing plan.

During the meeting, which was also attended by the aviation ministry secretary and the director general, the minister briefed the unions’ representatives on the outsourcing plan.

A CAA staff representative told Dawn the minister had asked them to submit their concerns to the committee.

He said a committee headed by the aviation secretary had also been constituted to deal with the issue.

The CAA employees have been protesting against the aviation bill-2022 passed by the National Assembly recently, bifurcating role of the authority — one for regulating civil aviation activities in the country and the other for providing civil aviation services and developing aviation infrastructure.

The employees rejected the bill and outsourcing of the country’s three major airports— Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2023