National carrier Pakistan International Airlines appears to be in a state of daze as differences over minor issues have cropped up among different departments of the national airline. According to PIA insiders, these differences between the ground handling staff and pilots are getting serious by the day. The ground handling staff is not happy with the attitude of pilots who consider them non-qualified and less educated.
The source said that recently, President Pakistan Airline Pilots' Association (Palpa) Captain Amir Hashmi in his de-brief of a flight being operated by him used derogatory remarks about the ground handling staff which shows how serious the situation is. 'Amir stated in his de-brief report that he asked a ground handling person to do a cargo door check while he did the opposite of it which according to Amir was because of his lack of knowledge/education. Amir stated the person was "non-matric",' added the source.
The source said while handling cargo doors does not require an engineering degree as flying an aircraft requires only a matriculate degree also but using the term of "non-matric" in a derogatory form is uncalled for. The debrief of President PALPA has been taken seriously by the ground handling staff and the matter is being discussed in the relevant department and labour union to be raised in front of Chairman PIA during his next visit as how come an intermediate pass pilot use such derogatory remarks.
The source said that this kind of attitude of pilots is conducive in disturbing the harmony among different departments at the airline which may have serious repercussions, for smooth operations of the airline and the working would be affected severely but pilots are not realising it. Similarly, the source added, pilots blame traffic control department for creating chaos (in terms of flight delays) through not operating Sabre system properly, so this further aggravates the rift between them.
Recently, Vice President Palpa Captain Sadiq Rehman in a debrief report stated that he faced flight delays because Sabre system has been introduced without proper training to the staff and that is causing problems. 'Captain Sadiq in the debrief: stated, "It is felt or rather it appears that traffic [department] is making a conscious effort to fail the newly introduced Sabre check-in system". This shows how serious the differences are between pilots and other departments of the airline,' added the source.
He further said that both the reports are being distributed among the employees by different groups asking them for their opinion if they think this arrogance could be tolerated. There was a time when all employees were united under the leadership of PALPA and through this unity they achieved a very big honour as they saved the national airline from becoming the sub-carrier of Turkish Airlines, reasoned the source, adding that still some of the unions have urged to stay together as a movement against privatisation is to be launched. However, with this strange attitude of pilots, it may not be possible to lead or even run along the employees in different quests including privatisation.