LAHORE, Nov 2: Cancellation of PIA’s 12 domestic and three international flights on Friday caused a lot of inconvenience to its passengers at the Allama Iqbal International Airport.

The national airline had to cancel all its operations of the day following a ‘sick leave’ observed by its ground engineers whose number in the country is over 800.

Despite a PIA claim that it had informed a maximum number of passengers about the cancellation of their flights, a large number still poured in and lamented the airline for its failure to take them to their destinations. The passengers, who were to catch a flight for abroad, were most disappointing.

“I am coming from Gujranwala to catch my flight for Manchester, but it has been cancelled. I do not understand why the management does not persuade the engineers to get on to work and meanwhile delays the flights schedule for a couple of hours. Nothing is more troublesome than cancellation of a flight for a passenger,” Hashim Shakoor maintained.

Samina Ahmad, another passenger who had to board a Dubai flight, vowed that she would never travel by PIA. “I had to see my ailing mother in Dubai, and it is very disturbing for me not to be there on time. Unfortunately, I also could not reserve booking in any other airline after cancellation of the flight,” she said.

Most of the passengers were of the view that it would only add fuel to the fire to the national airlines’ reputation.

The private airlines do not have a capacity to cater to such a large number of passengers.

The domestic flights cancelled on Friday were four each for Islamabad and Karachi, two for Multan and one for Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur. The international flights were PK-709 for Manchester, PK-759 for Jeddah and PK-203 for Dubai.

As the PIA management and the association of ground engineers have not reached any settlement, there are chances that some 12 or so domestic and seven international flights may also be cancelled.

International flights for Saturday include New York, London, Abu Dhabi, Copenhagen, Delhi, Dubai and Jeddah.

A PIA spokesman has requested all passengers to recheck the exact arrival and departure of all PIA flights before proceeding to the airport from its call centre (111-786-786).

He said the management continued to be engaged in a dialogue with aircraft engineers to bring about an amicable settlement concerning their demand for an enhanced salary package.

“PIA engineers are part of airlines six-decade old time-tested brotherhood, and are expected to take into consideration their mandatory national duties towards passengers’ convenience,” he said.

Azhar Khalid, a member of the Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP), told Dawn that the PIA chairman had not been taking their ‘single demand’ seriously. “We want our salary at a ratio of 100:55 as once mutually decided by the management. This ratio is as against pilots (if Rs100 for a pilot then Rs55 for an engineer). At present the engineers are being paid at the ratio of 100:33.”—Zulqernain Tahir