According to PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan, the attendant did not report for flight PK-798 from Toronto to Lahore.
“When contacted, he cited ill health as an excuse,” the spokesperson said, adding that the matter is being investigated.
“In case of illegal disappearance, departmental action will be initiated against the flight attendant,” Khan said.Missing PIA crew members, particularly in Canada, have been reported in the past, too.
Last year in October, a cabin crew member was reportedly gone missing while on duty. The missing crew member, based in Islamabad, had disappeared during a layover in Toronto.
Similarly, a 47-year-old PIA steward was reportedly gone missing in Canada in March 2024.
In February 2024, another member of the airline’s cabin crew was reported missing while on duty. The member had arrived in Toronto on PIA flight PK-782 from Islamabad but failed to report for duty on the return flight, PK-784 to Karachi.
The recent disappearance of PIA employees in Canada suggests that a similar trend may also be emerging among white-collar workers in the country.
“The two flight attendants disappeared upon arriving in Toronto and didn’t show up on scheduled time of return,” Abdullah Khan, PIA spokesperson, told Arab News, saying that eight crew members of Pakistan’s national flag carrier had disappeared in Canada in two years.
The flight attendants, Khalid Mehmood and Feda Hussain, went to Canada from Islamabad on PK772 on November 10, but they failed to report back before the flight departed from Toronto.
The airline notified the local authorities in Canada and launched a departmental investigation against its missing employees that may lead to their termination of services.
Khan informed that four PIA cabin crew members had disappeared in the same way last years, while four more managed to vanish in 2023.
“The reason for this is overly liberal asylum and asylum program by the Canadian government,” he added.
“We normally terminate the services of such individuals and penalize them by denying them of any benefits,” he continued.
The Pakistan media, citing unnamed sources, reported the airline had implemented stricter regulations for flight attendants traveling to Canada and European countries.
These regulations include setting an age limit of above 50 years for cabin crew members.