Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday assailed claims that national carrier Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA), flight operations and safety measures were not meeting international standards.

On November 3, PIA’s flight operations were disrupted across the country after the engineers’ group refused to issue clearances to aircraft, claiming that they could not compromise on travel safety.

The defence minister, whose portfolio includes aviation, wrote in an X post that any “propaganda targeting PIA, its flights’ safety and its operations is totally baseless”.

“Safety is non-negotiable, but unqualified people cannot dictate it in the presence of Pakistani and international regulators,” he wrote. “PIA flight [operations] are strictly adhered to PCAA/international safety standards.”

Asif said he fully backed the flag carrier’s efforts to “return to profitability and expand its network”, adding that PIA generated a per-day average of Rs600 million in revenue over the past three days, which he claimed was generated through a “regular domestic/international schedule without disruption”.

“By spreading malicious news, they are trying to harm national interests and sabotage it,” he said, referring to those making the claims. “We have worked tirelessly over [the] last five years to revive PIA.”

“PIA is now continuing to fly domestically as per schedule and covering coveted international destinations such as Toronto, Manchester, Paris, [Saudi Arabia], China and [the] Far East as per schedule. In future, more routes to Europe and North America shall also be operated,” he added.

For nearly a year, engineers working at Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), represented by the Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP), have been raising their voices over what they describe as unfair treatment and safety concerns within the airline. Recently, however, the matter has escalated, turning into a protest, resulting in the delay of flights and leading to the suspension of a few SAEP officials.

Last Monday, the aircraft engineers refused to issue clearance certificates to aircraft, because of which hundreds of passengers were stranded at different airports due to long delays in the flights, especially those scheduled for Saudi Arabia.

According to SAEP representatives, the protest was carried out over two primary issues: salary disparities as well as safety and the unavailability of spare parts.

SAEP members claim that while pilots receive salary hikes, engineers’ pay remains stagnant. Moreover, the engineers claim they are often told to reuse old aircraft parts instead of being provided with new ones, a practice they say could compromise passenger safety.