PIA's hair raising deal!

The PIA management, Aviation Advisor and PALPA have joined hands to scratch each others' back, according to sources in PIA. Management, they said is taking instructions from PALPA on cockpit crew promotions and placements (although Director Flight Operations (DFO) had resisted and resigned a few days back but Chairman PIA convinced him to continue). PALPA is getting 105 flying hours for its four office-bearers, and the Aviation Advisor is finalising a "wet lease" agreement with a Turkish Airline for approximately $2,700 per hour.
Under wet lease agreement the aircraft is flown and maintained by the owner airline's crew while the buying airline crew is asked to rest. The same aircraft has been acquired by a private airline in Pakistan for around $1,600 per hour. Needless to mention that the previous executive committee at PALPA had not only resisted the wet lease aircraft but made the management change the agreement to "damp lease" (where only maintenance is done by owner airline and flown by operating airline thus saving huge amount by utilising own crew).
PIA management has been highlighting the dearth of narrow body aircraft as main reason for schedule abruption, however since the induction of these wet and damp lease aircraft it has been unable to bring about a positive change in its punctuality and regularity ratios.
Meanwhile, the pilot community feels disgraced after the recent incident involving President PALPA getting caught while entering the country with foreign exchange amount in excess to allowed figure. The incident has caused ripples among the pilot community which is feeling disgraced.
Disturbed and dejected community had already submitted a no confidence motion. Now it is up to the executive committee to handle the membership which is bound to give its opinion in two weeks time. The no confidence move is bound to be taken up by the executive committee of Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) this week. The move which was triggered due to sharp differences between the management of PALPA and members who accused the management of serving themselves only which is evident that four office-bearers demanded special allowance from the PIA management.
As per the terms of the constitution of association, the members who bring the no confidence motion against the Executive Committee are required to prove their accusations/allegations before the meeting of the Executive Committee. If they are unable to prove the accusations/allegations the constitution provides them with two options. The first of which is to apologise in writing, and the second is to request for permission in writing from the Executive Committee to seek support of the members for their no confidence motion. Such permission has also certain qualifications to fulfil in order for it to be legitimate. The permission is required to be granted within one week of application (seeking permission) and the Executive Committee shall give a specific notice to the applicant that he/she was to obtain support of 1/3 (one-third) of total members within two weeks from date of permission.
Customs authorities had detained Pakistan International Airlines' (PIA) crew members at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport for smuggling goods and foreign currency into the country. As per the details PALPA President Captain Amir Hashmi and cabin crew of flight PK 758 were held after customs officials recovered 21 smart phones and around 5,000 British pounds from their possession. Customs authorities alleged that the crew was involved in smuggling and had used similar tactics to transport valuable goods into the country.
Earlier the members of PALPA moved a no confidence motion against the present executive committee (EC) under the PALPA Constitution and PALPA-PIA Working Agreement 2011-13. PALPA members requested all the EC members, including the president PALPA to resign and appoint an election committee to hold an extraordinary election as they have been failed to fulfil their promises and involved in personal gains. Prime allegation is that the present PALPA leadership is busy penalising its own membership while completely overlooking the aspect of welfare.
PALPA members have brought serious allegations against the executive committee in their no-confidence motion which include not safeguarding the interests of pilots and even the organisation while claiming 105 hours flying allowance for four executives which was earlier announced otherwise.
The EC is seen focusing on personal agendas that involve getting lucrative flights, getting friends appointed as Chief Pilots, travelling SUPY to attend marriages in Manchester and New York, etc, while the approved clauses of Working Agreement 2011-2013 like NS-I tickets status, block time payment, medical facilities, etc, have not been touched as yet.
According to the report, acquired by Business Recorder, on the incident, sent to PIA management by Station Manager, Lahore, Manzoor Jr, there is a clear contradiction in the statements of Chairman PIA, President PALPA, Joint Secretary PALPA and spokesman of PIA. "Giving cash by PIA to the pilot is against law and falls in the category of money laundering," and the President of PALPA had not declared this amount while going abroad.
The statement of Station Manager contradicts the statement of PIA and Secretary Aviation. Only passengers are allowed to bring in USD 10,000 and not the crew. Station Manager's report sent to PIA head office said: "The matter was resolved after negotiations with the Dy. Collector Customs and crew was allowed to leave 1630 hrs after full undertaking by me. The money declared by crew members of Pk758/21 September 2014 was given by PIA for miscellaneous use during the flight and abroad. The said crew shall be presented before the Customs official forum whenever required."
As per the customs the crew had not declared the detected amount upon departure the only way out therefore was undertaking from crew which the crew did not agree so there was no other option to resolve the matter with consultation of Manager Legal LHE, to avoid further aggravation of situation as union workers had gathered outside the custom hall. The Captain was President, PALPA, the report said.