Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP) President Abdullah Jadoon and Secretary General Awais Jadoon were dismissed from service on Thursday amid an ongoing tiff with the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafiz confirmed the development to Dawn. The national flag carrier also issued two dismissal notices to the engineers, copies of which are available with Dawn.

Abdullah’s role was stated as an aircraft engineer (PG-VI), while Awais was an aircraft engineer (PG-VIII).

The dismissal letters said that notices were issued to the SAEP president for conducting a press conference without prior authorisation and for disclosing official information to the media, and to the SAEP secretary general, for the unauthorised disclosure of confidential operational information and PIA images.

“In order to enquire into the allegations/charges communicated to you via the aforesaid showcause notice, an enquiry was conducted wherein you failed to participate despite providing ample opportunities to appear and defend your case,” the notices said.

“After examining the available evidence and statements of prosecution witnesses, the enquiry committee found you guilty of the charges levelled against you,” they added. They further said that both the SAEP officials were provided two opportunities to appear before the chief executive officer, but failed to do so.

“Keeping in view your entire disciplinary case, the management has decided to dismiss you from the service of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited,” the notices said, adding that these dismissals would go into effect immediately.

The dismissals come amid an ongoing tiff between the PIA management and the SAEP, with the protesting engineers refusing to issue clearance certificates to aircraft — a move that has disrupted flight operations in recent days.

The engineers have been protesting for two-and-a-half mont­­hs, seeking pay hikes among other demands, according to SAEP officials.

While the PIA has claimed that the engineers are on “strike”, the SAEP maintains that its engineers were on duty but were not giving clearance certificates to aircraft without all the mandatory checks.

Earlier, the PIA spokesperson had highlighted that the Essential Services Act was in force in PIA under which strikes or abandonment of work was a legal offence. “All elements involved in or supporting such actions as part of a conspiracy will face legal action,” he had warned.

For his part, Awais Jadoon had earlier said that the two officers were on duty and working, but could not compromise on safety and airworthiness. “We are being forced to issue clearance certificates (to release the planes), but we cannot put passengers’ lives at risk in such tense circumstances.”

He had also clarified that the engineers were not on strike and said that they were only issuing clearance certificates to aircraft completely fit for flying.

In response to a question about a meeting with the PIA management, he had said that they were not called by the management for negotiations or to address the issues raised by engineers, but they were called for a ‘personal inquiry’ initiated against them.

Meanwhile, the PIA has alleged that the engineer’s protest is aimed at sabotaging the national flag carrier’s privatisation.

Flight disruptions

The matter came into the spotlight when hund­reds of air travellers were reported to have been stranded at three major airports on Monday night due to the aircraft engineers’ protest, which delayed at least six flights of the national flag carrier.

Similar delays have been reported at nearly all major airports in the country during the last two months.

On Tuesday, the PIA claimed to have restored flight operations through alternative arrangements. A PIA spokesperson said that the management had used alternative means and worked overnight to restore operations, mitigating the impact of already delayed flights on subsequent operations.

Yesterday, too, the PIA said it had managed to “partially restore its flight operations”.