PIA issues notice to Air France
By: Amraiz Khan
August 25, 2012
LAHORE – PIA management has issued notice to Air France and sought explanation in a case wherein a French woman enjoyed an 18-hour journey from Lahore Airport to Paris and back again after sleeping through her plane’s stopover in the French capital by a PIA’s scheduled flight, a few days back, said sources in the PIA on Friday.
They said that as per claim of PIA management it was the duty of the ground handling agency of Air France to disembark the total number of passengers from the plane at Paris Airport but they failed to do so.
However, a PIA pilot seeking anonymity told this scribe that as per SOP of flight operations it was duty of the Senior Purser to ensure disembarkation of all the passengers on board after arriving at any destination.
He said that PIA should investigate its own cabin crew instead of blaming Air France staff.
Another PIA officer on condition of anonymity said that it might be that the French woman whose visa for Pakistan had expired wanted to stay more in Pakistan, deliberately returned to Pakistan.
The sources claimed that it was pure negligence of Senior Purser who failed to check the number of passengers who disembarked at Paris Airport.
They claimed that since flight was in transit and after flying from Lahore it landed at Milan Airport where not only passengers disembarked but also passengers for Lahore via Paris were boarded.
So when the flight reached Paris all the passengers did not disembark but certain passengers apart from the woman in question remained seated in the plane due to which Senior Purser could not notice that lady.
However, spokesman of PIA said that airline was looking into the matter that how ground crew failed to notice the woman during the plane’s two-hour stopover at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and after completion of inquiry process, the responsible persons would be taken to task.
The woman did not mention her own mistake to the cabin crew and the matter only came to light when she was stopped by immigration officials on arrival back at Lahore Airport.
PIA issues notice to Air France | The Nation