The deadlock continues as Palpa demands included: (i) immediate replacement of Director Flights Operation, (ii) immediate withdrawal of all show cause notices, inquiries, investigations and legal notices issued to pilots on disciplinary grounds and reinstatement of all grounded pilots and (iii) fixation of seniority of pilots as per the wishes of Palpa. Chairman PIA said the two of the three demands are not in their hands as notices were issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. According to Plan-B, services of pilots will be hired on contract basis from among the local private airlines as they are ready to help PIA, said the chairman.
Further, one ATR of Navy will be on standby from Wednesday (today) at Karachi Airport and another ATR will be made available from Thursday for Benazir Bhutto International Airport in case pilots refuse to operate at the eleventh hour to avoid further delay. In this regard negotiations have been held with Naval Chief, he added. Palpa protest had little effect on the flight operations as more than 90 percent of the pilots stood by PIA, Jaffer said, adding that only two flights of total 107 were cancelled Tuesday. "A flight was cancelled due to bad weather at Gwadar while the other owing to non-availability of pilot," he said, urging the pilots to show responsibly for the sake of the country. Replying to a question, he said the PIA management would discuss the working agreement presented by Palpa and the ministry has directed to finalise it within one month.
It is not in favour of the country, nation, PIA or Palpa to continue with the strike and the strikers need to realise the situation, Jaffer said, adding that customers as well as PIA suffered for that he was apologised. The government is giving priority to post-Hajj flight operation despite strike of pilots, said Chairman PIA, adding that the management was trying its best to continue Hajj operation. Responding to a question, the chairman said if the CAA cancels pilots'' licenses, they would be of no use to PIA as they could not operate a flight.
Meanwhile taking notice of 21 PIA pilots'' and co-pilots'' reported sick, the CAA has constituted a medical board to examine their medical and psychological condition to ascertain professional viability. The pilots include Captain Abdul Matin Bhurgri, Captain Aurangzeb Hashmat Khan, Captain Jarrar Zafar, Captain Syed Ahsan Abbas Zaidi, Captain Salahuddin Jamal, Captain Muhammad Aman Durrani, Captain Khurram Mughal, Captain Nadeem Mussawar, Omer Rashid, First Officer Usman Hayat Malik, First Officer Irtiza Ali, First Officer Usman Rafique Chatha, First Officer Zaibunnisa, First Officer Kamran Khan, First Officer Asad Ilyas, First Officer Shahryar Ahmed Dogar, First Officer Ali Ahmed Saeed, First Officer Sabir ur Rehman, First Officer Taha Harris Anjum, First Officer Asim Zia and First Officer Zohaib Ahmed Sheikh.