PIA pilot refuses to fly plane after duty hours in Saudi Arabia

Dubai: A Pakistan International Airline pilot refused to take a flight from Dammam to Islamabad on Sunday as his duty timings had ended, Pakistani Samaa TV reported.

PK 9754 was ready to board from Riyadh to Islamabad but it was delayed by bad weather.

The pilot decided on an emergency landing at Dammam airport where his duty time ended and he refused to continue the flight.

Passengers protested over the flight delay and refused to change planes. After a few minutes the situation became tense, security personnel were called in.

“A pilot should rest because it is necessary for flight safety. All passengers will reach 11pm at Islamabad Airport until then all arrangements have been made in hotels,” said a PIA spokesperson.

In November, the national flag carrier had announced that it was expanding its flight operations for Saudi Arabia.

According to spokesperson, the PIA flights will depart from different cities of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Peshawar.

On January 10, PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik said the reforms process in the airline would continue, as it significantly helped in bringing down the per aircraft employees ratio to 260, which was 550 in 2017.

He said that the world's best airlines maintained their staff strength per plane at 200-250. He expressed confidence that with the arrival of new aircraft in the PIA fleet in 2022, the per plane employees' ratio would further come down to 220.