Lahore-bound PIA flight delayed by 36 hours at Toronto

A PIA flight coming to Lahore from Toronto has been delayed for more than 36 hours due to blizzard in the Canadian city, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday. 

The 24NewsHD has got video of the plane waiting for departure during the snowstorm. 

Reportedly, the flight PK 798 was supposed to reach Lahore airport at 8:45 pm on Saturday but now the flight will probably arrive at the airport at 10:20 am today (Monday).

The plane with all the passengers on board awaited at the Toronto airport for six hours. 

However, the passengers were offloaded on the instructions of the Air Traffic Control to close the airfield. 

The airline had to bear the expenses in the shape of costly catering services, aircraft parking charges and hotel accommodation for passengers due the delay caused by the PIA management incompetence. 

According to sources, the flight had to be cancelled due to the forecast of a snowstorm around Toronto but the PIA management did not cancel the flight. 

The PIA crew’s duty time was also about to finish due to long delay in the flight departure. 

The GM flight services allegedly offered extra payment to the staff in order to operate the flight. On their refusal, the general manager allegedly threatened to put the staff on no-international-flight list. 

The spokesperson for the PIA said that the plane remained at the airport for the flight because the airline did not receive advance notice of the blizzard. He further said that the crew was not asked to be on duty for more than the prescribed duty time under the rules.

Reporter Samar Abbas