PIA confirms 7 extra passengers traveled on fully booked flight

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) confirmed on Monday that it had carried seven passengers more than the maximum allowed on an international flight and had launched disciplinary measures against the crew.
A PIA spokesman denied a newspaper report that the extra passengers were forced to stand for the 3-hour flight from Karachi to Madinah on Jan. 20.
“It is not possible for anyone to travel like that in an aircraft, regardless of the duration of the flight,” Danyal Gillani said not clarifying how the passengers had traveled. A pilot and two other crew members were being disciplined, he said.
“Strict action would be taken against anyone found at fault. PIA is committed to ensuring the safety of the passengers and cannot allow any incident to happen which compromises safety,” Gillani said.
It was the latest embarrassing incident for the airline, considered a global leader until the 1970s but plagued by controversies over recent years and saddled with billions of dollars of debt.
A PIA turboprop built by European manufacturer ATR plummeted into a mountain in a northern region on Dec. 7, bursting into flames and killing all 47 people on board.
The airline was later mocked after its staff were photographed sacrificing a goat on a runway to ward off bad luck.
Domestic flights are often delayed for VIPs while flight employees have been caught smuggling goods ranging from iPhones to narcotics.
In 2013 one of its pilots was jailed for nine months in Britain for being drunk before he was due to fly from Leeds to Islamabad with 156 people on board.