PIA will confiscate crew passports during stopovers.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has said it will confiscate cabin crew passports during layovers after the second flight attendant went missing, a fact that already happened in a first case 6 months ago.
See also: Pakistan Airlines plane held by Malaysian authorities.
The airline issued the directive after a crew member failed to show up for the return leg of a round trip from Lahore to Toronto over the weekend.
The unidentified employee from Islamabad flew on flight PK798 last Jan. 29, but failed to show up for the return flight to Pakistan.
See also: Pakistan arrests aviation officials over pilots’ licence scanda.
A very similar incident occurred in July 2020, reports One Mile at a Time, when a PIA flight attendant named Yasir disappeared from the hotel during a layover in Toronto.
When contacted by the airline, he informed officials that he was staying in another city.
PIA said at the time, “Authorities have launched an investigation into the matter and action will be taken against flight attendant Yasir.”
After the latest incident, the airline’s general manager of flight services, Aamir Bashir, told Pakistani news site Dawn that “action has been taken in view of incidents of cabin crew slipping away.”
A spokesman for the airline confirmed that there had been two recent incidents of crew absconding in Canada and that the cases had been handed over to Canadian immigration authorities once the PIA employees failed to show up for their return flights.
The airline’s new guidelines, described in a staff email seen by Dawn , dictate that the station manager will take the crew’s passports after they clear immigration and customs, and retain them during the layover.
The passports will be returned when the crew checks in for their departure flight.
Accommodation security will also be stepped up during layovers, and hotel staff will be told to alert PIA if any expected crew members fail to check in.
By Helen Coffey – Independent
Related Topics
Delta and Aeroméxico Challenge U.S. Decision to Terminate Their Joint Venture
How American Airlines Trains Its Pilots to Fly Airbus A321XLR over North Atlantic
Pan Am Prepares for Its Return: Legendary Airline Seeks FAA Certification to Fly Again
Spirit Airlines: Failed Attempt to Reinvent Itself as a More “Premium” Airline Reveals Challenges Facing the Low-Cost Model
Plataforma Informativa de Aviación Comercial con 13 años de trayectoria.