Most of Pakistan International Airlines's fleet was grounded and dozens of flights cancelled on Friday as ground engineers took medical leave en masse to press for higher salaries, airline officials told Reuters.
The work stoppage by PIA engineers, who certify the air worthiness of aircraft after every flight, came just two days after the in-the-red national carrier announced accumulated losses of about $584 million during the first nine months of the year.
According to Karachi airport officials, around 45 of PIA's domestic flights and five international flights scheduled for Friday had been cancelled by 3 pm. Nineteen of 42 aircraft were on the ground at airports in Pakistan, while the balance were abroad or in the air. "Almost all (the) fleet is now on the ground," a PIA official told Reuters.
Passengers told Reuters that they had no news of the flight cancellations until they reached the airport. Witnesses saw angry passengers shouting at PIA staff at the airport, demanding refunds or information about revised flight schedules.
"I've been waiting here, standing since 8am, and they've been telling me nothing except that the flight has been delayed," said Ahsen Saleem, who was supposed to reach Lahore from Karachi by midday Friday. The protesting engineers said unless PIA management starts salary negotiations, they will not return to work.
"This is an issue (that has lasted) over 18 years now and we just cannot work under such conditions," said Syed Mashkoor Hasan, General Secretary of Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan. "PIA is constantly using delay tactics by telling us they have no money," he said.