ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed PIA to nominate four appellants for training in the US on Boeing 777 in the next training course.

A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar issued directions against the management of PIA by converting the petitions of First Officers Abid Hasan, Saeed Ahmed, Ikramullah and Sohail into appeals by setting aside the earlier judgment of the Federal Service Tribunal (FST).

Raja Qureshi, the counsel for the petitioners, during the hearing contended that these officers were denied promotion because they were sent for training on Airbus A310 instead of Boeing 777.

Barrister Sajid Zahid, who represented PIA, told the court that out of a list of 34 officers, 27 people have already been trained and that the petitioners were sent for training on Airbus A310 because of the occurrence of vacancies on A310.