Plagued by bad management and competition from Gulf airlines, PIA has posted multimillion dollar losses for years. — File photo

RAWALPINDI: The protest by PIA employees’ joint action committee (JAC) continued for a third day on Wednesday as union members pressed the government to end its ‘agreement’ to give air routes to Turkish Airlines and to remove Managing Director Aijaz Haroon. At the same time, the government also sprang into action and started talks with the JAC on Wednesday night, which ended without any visible progress and conflicting accounts from both sides.

The negotiations were held at the Rawal lounge of Benazir Bhutto Airport. Labour Minister Khurshid Ahmed Shah and Manzoor Ahmed represented the government, while Sohail Baloch, Kamran Chaudhry, Safdar Anjum, Shamim Akmal and Hadiatullah took part in the talks on behalf of the JAC.

Mr Shah and Mr Ahmed are part of a three-member committee set up by the government to talk to the protesters.

“The deadlock continues as will our protest,” Sohail Baloch, the convener and PALPA president, told Dawn after the talks.

On the other hand, the government put a slightly more positive spin on the talks as Mr Shah told the media that the JAC sought time to discuss the matter with their colleagues.

The federal minister said the PALPA representatives had submitted three demands — withdrawal of the proposed ‘agreement’ with Turkish Airlines to sell it some PIA routes, sacking of MD Haroon and withdrawal of criminal cases registered against PIA employees.

However, Mr Baloch denied that the JAC had sought any time to mull over the government’s point of view. He said the government team did not accept the demand to get rid of the PIA managing director.

This was not the only damage control measure that the government or the beleaguered PIA management took.

Managing Director Haroon arrived in Islamabad along with seven to eight members of the Technical Ground Support (TGS) department from Karachi.

While the MD left the airport immediately by driving out through a separate gate, the TGS staff set to work to repair the PIA stair vans and tug-masters which had been damaged by the protesters on Tuesday.

During the day, however, airports across the country continued to witness scenes of unrest as PIA flights were cancelled and disrupted. In fact, according to some accounts, more flights were disrupted on Wednesday than the day before; at least 25 to 30 PIA flights scheduled to take off from Benazir Bhutto International Airport were said to have been cancelled.

An official at the flight information told Dawn that all operations from Islamabad had been cancelled due to the strike on Wednesday. However, one flight (PK-300) with 138 passengers on board arrived from Karachi.

The computer system at the airport remained shut for the second day running and staff members carried out work manually for PIA’s flight PK-301 for Karachi.

A staff member said: “Boarding cards for PK-301 were filled out by hand as the computer system was shut down.”

As no ground staff was available, Shaheen Airport Services handled the flight PK-301. The flight took off at 4.30pm for Karachi on Wednesday.

The Rangers, who had been called to assist police and Airport Security Force on Tuesday, were deployed at the exit and entry gates and along the compound walls of the airport premises as nobody, except passengers with valid air tickets, was allowed inside. However, the local police were withdrawn from the airport premises on Wednesday.

The strict security measures did ensure that little violence was seen inside the airport premises and protesters were forced to continue their demonstration on the main road, blocking a portion of it. This disruption continued till late into the night.

Briefing counters, booking office and flight kitchen staff remained on strike as well.

The situation at the other main airports of the country was no different. In Lahore, protesters blocked a road leading to the main entrance of Allama Iqbal International Airport for an hour or so, forcing passengers to walk to the airport, carrying their luggage with them.

The flight schedule too was disrupted as four domestic flights -- for Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta and Rahimyar Khan -- and two international flights -- for Dubai and Delhi -- were cancelled.

The heavy deployment of the Airport Security Force and police prevented the outbreak of violence between the protesters and a group of employees siding with the management.

The protest, which disrupted PIA flights across the country’s airports, began on Monday night on the call of JAC. The situation worsened on Tuesday after the PIA management sacked eight pilots who had refused to work.