PIA bows to pressure, announces special allowance for Aircraft Engineers

KARACHI: Bowing down to a more than two-month protest by the Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP), the national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced increasing the allowances of the aircraft engineers, ARY News reported.

According to the PIA spokesman, the raise will be given in salaries this December, while the allowances will be increased starting from the month of November.

It is pertinent to mention that Aircraft Engineers stuck to their protest starting from November 2 when they refused to give clearing certificates to flights, which resulted in cancellations and the delay of hundreds of flights. They had been staging a symbolic protest for two months by tightening a protest band on their shoulder.

According to SAEP representatives, the protest was carried out over two primary issues: salary disparities as well as safety and the unavailability of spare parts.

The PIA Board of Directors (BoD) took the decision after reviewing the two-year performance of the airline in the backdrop of safety standards.

The BoD took the measure to recognize the services of the Aircraft Engineers and improve the professional standard of the national carrier.

As per the decision, the Aircraft Engineers will be given a special allowance, and the decision was also taken in view of the possible privatization of the airline.