ISLAMABAD – The People’s Unity of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) known as the CBA union has announced that all district-level booking offices of the national airline will be closed for 2 hours as a token strike.
Addressing a press conference, PIA CBA consortium President Hidayatullah announced that the strike would begin on Thursday against the privatization of the national airline.
Hidayatullah gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the PIA administration and the interim government to refrain from privatizing the national carrier and said the union will take important decisions on Friday.
Earlier, the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) had given its nod to privatize Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) which is facing a severe financial crisis.
The participants of CCoP after deliberation decided to include Pakistan International Airlines Co. Ltd (PIA) in the list of active privatization projects of the ongoing privatization program.
The decision to privatize PIA comes amid measures to reduce the losses of the national exchequer through different state own enterprises; the national carrier is also set to resume flights to the United Kingdom and other European destinations by October.
In 2020, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight operations for Europe over safety concerns.
EASA said that they had suspended the Third Country Operator (TCO) Authorisation to PIA after it failed to comply with the proposed corrective action plans (CAPs).
At least six findings were raised with the PIA officials during meetings in June and September 2019, out of which five of the action plans were implemented while one other concerning element of a Safety Management System was not implemented.
Earlier, the previous PDM-led federal government decided to outsource the operations at three international airports of the country located in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad.
In this regard, then Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique told newsmen that the Islamabad International Airport would be outsourced for 15 years.
The outsourcing of three airports has been kicked off within the scope of a public-private partnership to engage private investors/airport operators through a competitive and transparent process.
