PIA Ends Baggage Loader/Carrier Service for Aircraft Crew

[Abbas Ali]

PIA has ended providing baggage loader/carrier service for pilots and flight attendants. Four to five baggage loaders/carriers were arranged for carrying baggage pieces of aircraft crew at airports inside and outside Pakistan.

Under new orders, baggage loaders/carriers for aircraft crew will now provide wheelchair service to airline's passengers.

Info source: https://www.express.com.pk/epaper/PoPup ... e=20190108

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Mohammad Asghar

Updated January 09, 2019

RAWALPINDI: PIA also launched an austerity campaign and withdrew staff reserved for facilitating the cabin crew members and redeployed them on their normal duties at airports across Pakistan.

According to sources, the PIA management put an end to the special treatment being provided to its pilots and cabin crew.

The facilitating staff has been withdrawn leaving the airlines’ crew members to handle their baggage on their own.

The staff has been redeployed on normal duties, including wheelchair handling. In addition, the cabin crew rooms have also been abolished.

The airlines claimed that the move was part of ongoing reforms and austerity steps and to improve service delivery.

The PIA was providing loaders to the cabin and cockpit crew at the time of boarding and disembarking for carrying their luggage. The loaders were provided extra allowances for the special duties.

The airline management had to provide a separate room for loaders with a telephone facility at each airport where at least three to four loaders remained on an alert and had to carry the baggage of crew members, including pilots, stewards and air-hostesses.

“Sometimes the loaders also got tips from crew members for carrying their baggage to and from the airplane,” a senior official of the airlines said, adding this facility had continued for about 30 to 40 years.

None of the other airlines was offering such a facility to their crew members.

A PIA spokesman said the loaders had been redeployed for facilitating passengers, especially those with special needs. The redeployed staff will help passengers using wheelchairs during arrival and departure.

Source: DAWN

[Abbas Ali]

According to January 11, 2019, PIA document shown on Public TV, all shift station managers have been directed to ensure availability of staff for assisting crew of arriving and departing flights:

"In order to ensure smooth handling of crew on arrivals & departures, all shift station managers are required to ensure that staff is available in each shift for crew assistance to save them from hassle of waiting in queue. The designated staff shall ensure expeditious clearance of crew members from government agencies on both arrivals and departures. Moreover, on departures, the crew members should be checked-in from supervisor counter. Necessary assistance may also be rendered in tagging of their baggage and putting it on belt.

All shift station managers to make sure that crew transition through airport should be smooth and without any stress."




Abbas