Daily Times

KARACHI/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD – Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees continued their strike for the second consecutive day on Wednesday against proposed privatisation of the airline.

The protest affected booking and inquiry services as workers boycotted office work in different cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Quetta, on a call given by union leaders. The airline workers also held protest demonstrations – urging the government to shun it plan to privatise the PIA.

The union has threatened to suspend flight operations from next month – if demands were not met. PIA spokesman Danyal Gilani said that the national flag carrier’s booking and inquiry services remained undisturbed by the strike.

The PIA management has requested the union leaders not to close down the PIA’s offices as it may result in causing inconvenience to passengers across Pakistan. “Any disruption in flight schedule will not only cause huge losses to the national airline and compromise the PIA’s standards and productivity but also create problems for the travelers,” Gilani added.

The strike comes five days after National Assembly piloted a bill with majority to convert PIA into a public limited company (The Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (conversion) Bill, 2015. The motion to pass the PIA (conversion) Bill, 2015 was moved by State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmed.

He said that the step had been taken to improve performance and financial position of the PIA. The opposition members strongly criticised the move and said that they had reservations over the bill. They said that the bill should not be passed in such haste as they have written their note of dissent on it. They said that the opposition should be taken into confidence on the bill.