PIA to hire navy aviators

KARACHI: The standoff between the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) pilots and the government spilled over into the day six, with more pilots continuing to be on strike after calling in sick, while the aviation watchdog asked them to appear before a team of doctors to have “their medical and psychological condition” examined.
The Civilian Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Tuesday it had constituted a medical board to examine 21 PIA pilots and co-pilots reporting sick simultaneously to ascertain their professional viability.
“The medical board would examine how 21 individuals fell ill at the same time immediately after PALPA announced its go slow policy, resulting in unforeseen flight delays, inflicting losses on the national flag carrier and causing inconvenience to the passengers,” the aviation watchdog said in a statement.
The standoff between the pilots body PALPA and the government’s aviation division intensified after two-day talks on pay and other working conditions failed.
The government earlier rejected PALPA’s demands, including immediate replacement of the director of flight operations; withdrawal of all show-cause notices, inquiries/investigations and legal notices issued to pilots on disciplinary grounds and reinstatement of all grounded pilots and fixation of seniority of pilots “as per the wishes of PALPA”.
The CAA asked pilots to appear before the medical board on October 8th, 12th and 19th in three groups.
The airline management has also formulated a “Plan B” to run its flight operations uninterrupted and will hire new pilots on contract basis while it also considers calling aviators from Pakistan Navy.
A PIA spokesman said around 88 flights in the last five days, including two flights on Tuesday, were cancelled. One flight was delayed due to bad weather and another canceled because of a pilot’s absence.
Nasir Jaffar, Chairman of PIA, said the pilots who are not coming on jobs are few and “majority of them are cooperative.”
Despite the extreme threat by the aviation authorities, the pilots remain defiant.
PALPA said it has decided to complain to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) over the role of the CAA Pakistan in supporting the Aviation Division and PIA “in media trial of the pilots”.
“We have decided to contact ICAO against the CAA for facilitating unjust actions to victimise the pilots who reported sick in the legal frame of ICAO’s air navigation order (ANO), personnel policies manual, operations manual and PALPA-PIAC working agreement,” said Capt Sohail Ahmed, General-Secretary of PALPA.
“We are, however, anxiously waiting for such notices which are being trumpeted since Friday,” he said. Ahmed said the CAA should first consult the aviation rules and regulations, because if the same is reported to ICAO, “the CAA will become a laughing stock while the international organisation may decide to downgrade the Pakistani authority in its upcoming review”.
“The aviation authorities globally promote a culture where the pilots are the best judge themselves to determine whether they can fly a plane full of passengers or will become a safety risk themselves,” he added.
Ahmed said the ANO’s clause 7.2 clearly states, “Crew members shall not act as operating crew if they know, or suspect, that their physical or mental condition renders them unfit to operate. “Crew members also have the responsibility to make optimum use of the opportunities and facilities for rest provided and for planning and using their rest periods properly in order to minimise incurring fatigues.”
The dejected passengers at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA), Islamabad, on Tuesday started crying when PIA flight PK-657 from Islamabad to Lahore was once again cancelled as pilots’ strike continued.
So far a total of 85 flights have been cancelled in six days while PIA has faced a loss of around Rs500 million due to the pilots strike.