LAHORE: A pilot of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) allegedly endangered the lives of passengers when he landed the flight PK-150, arriving from Dammam, on the wrong runway at Lahore Airport.
According to sources, the flight was redirected to Lahore due to poor weather and fog in Multan. However, instead of landing on the main runway, the pilot landed the aircraft on runway 36L, which reportedly was engulfed in darkness due its lights turned off at the time.
Following the incident, PIA management grounded the pilot and the first officer and launched an investigation into the matter, sources said.
A PIA spokesperson confirmed that disciplinary action against the crew has begun, and further steps will be determined after the inquiry is completed.
The national carrier had been making headlines for weeks for a number of ‘good and bad’ reasons.
Last week, PIA sparked wider criticism by posting a ‘controversial poster’ to its social media accounts to mark the first flight to Paris after a safety ban was lifted.
The poster showed a PIA plane flying right towards the Eiffel Tower, which made netizens recall the 9/11 incident when planes crashed into Twin Towers and changed the world.
The visual drew attention globally with major news outlets reporting on it while social media users mocking and criticizing the airline.
At first, PIA tried to defend the move, but later on succumbed to the criticism, and apologized on Friday for the controvertible poster.
“Unfortunately, this was blown out of proportion with connations and perceptions that were not intended,” PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan told AFP.
“It might have triggered some negative emotion, for which we truly apologise.”
He said there were around 60,00 to 70,000 negative reactions online, or less than 10 percent of engagement.
“Is this (an) advertisement or threat?” said one post under the advert, which has not been taken down.
“I’d have a word with your marketing department on this one chief,” said another.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said the prime minister has ordered an inquiry into the advert which “shows stupidity”.
But Khan said the response to PIA’s return to Europe has been “extremely positive”, with flights so far operating at more than 95 per cent capacity.
Debt-ridden PIA was banned in June 2020 from flying to the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States, a month after one of its Airbus A-320s plunged into a Karachi street, killing nearly 100 people.