Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Tuesday said it has restored flight operations with some alternate arrangements after delays due to what it called a “strike” by the Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP).

However, the SAEP stated there was no strike from their side and the engineers were only adhering to mandatory safety and certification protocols.

PIA’s flight operations were disrupted across the country last night after the engineers’ group refused to issue clearances to aircraft, claiming that they could not compromise on travel safety.

The PIA said in a statement today: “A de-recognised entity, SAEP, in order to pressurise the management, tried to halt the operations during late hours of yesterday (Monday) night with their nefarious design to sabotage the privatisation process.“

It asserted that the PIA’s management team, along with key officials of the engineering department, immediately responded to the situation.

“By using alternative means and working tirelessly overnight and day, [the airline] restored the operations, thus mitigating the impact of already delayed flights for subsequent operations,” the statement added.

The airline assured the public that “flight operations are being fully restored and customer convenience is our utmost priority and that our operations run smoothly”.

According to the PIA, a total of seven flights — three from Islamabad, two from Karachi, and one each from Lahore and Sialkot — departed after delays ranging from four to 14 hours.

Five flights were cancelled by readjusting the load, and alternates were offered to the passengers.

A protest had been ongoing for the last two-and-a-half months, with the engineers fastening black ribbons around their arms while working.

However, the situation escalated when the SAEP members discontinued issuing clearance to airplanes, disrupting the flight operations and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at the Islamabad, Lahore and Kara­chi airports.

SAEP president Abdullah Jadoon told Dawn that more than 570 aircraft engineers associated with the PIA were on strike and vowed to continue it until their demands were fulfilled.

Earlier today, a senior SAEP member had denied that the society was staging a strike. They insisted that the engineers were only adhering to mandatory safety and certification protocols as per their responsibilities.

“Unfortunately, instead of addressing long-pending professional and financial concerns, the PIA management has chosen to label lawful compliance as disruption, which is misleading,” the SAEP member said.

A spokesperson for the PIA had said the SAEP had no legal status and alleged that the main aim of this movement was to sabotage PIA’s privatisation, which was in its final stages.

Similar delays have occurred at nearly all major airports in the last two months due to engineers’ protests seeking a pay hike and other issues.

Flights impacted

According to the details provided by the PIA, flights that departed after the adjustment of revised slots/crew arrangement included the following:

Delayed departure:

• PK747 Lahore to Madina, with 316 passengers after 14 hours’ delay
• PK761 Karachi to Jeddah, with 160 passengers after 12 hours’ delay
• PK300 Karachi to Islamabad, with 139 passengers after 4 hours’ delay
• PK741 Islamabad to Madina, with 305 passengers after 6 hours’ delay
• PK233 Islamabad to Dubai, with 162 passengers after 9 hours’ delay
• PK245 Islamabad to Dammam, with 180 passengers after 7 hours’ delay
• PK755 Sialkot to Riyadh, with 142 passengers after 7 hours’ delay

On-time:

• PK783 Karachi to Toronto with 104 passengers
• PK701 Islamabad to Manchester with 329 passengers

Separately, five flights were cancelled by readjusting the load, and alternates were offered to the passengers.