Incidents of PIA air hostess and cabin crew members slipping away have accelerated amid clouds of uncertainty prevailing on the national airlines in the backdrop of its privatisation process.
Five crew members slipped in 2022 and seven in 2023 on overseas flights, while most of PIA's air hostesses have slipped in Canada.
A PIA spokesman admitted that no slipped air hostess was brought back to Pakistan.
As per the latest development, the first PIA crew member of 2024 has been found missing in Canada, after air hostess Faiza Mukhtar, posted on flight PK 781 from Islamabad to Toronto, allegedly slipped. She was scheduled to perform duties on flight 784 from Toronto to Karachi.
The PIA said the incident came to their knowledge when Faiza Mukhtar, 40, allegedly did not report with the crew for the return flight. Sources say she has left a four-year-old son behind.
The PIA spokesperson said that departmental disciplinary action has been initiated against Mukhtar as affidavits of air hostesses are available with the national carrier through which the FIA will also be contacted for action.
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The sources said that the number of air hostesses who have slipped in Toronto in the last few months, including Faiza Mukhtar, is eight, and the annual average is five. The employment period of airline employees, who requested political asylum after slipping in five years, is 15 to 17 years, while their age is 35 to 40 years.
Airline workers who slip into asylum-seeking Canada are said to go missing due to low wages and economic instability. Despite the fact that passports of the staff posted on the Toronto flights were collected by the airline ground staff at the airport, it has not deterred crew members from slipping.
There is also no use of affidavits obtained from the staff posted on flights about not slipping.
