A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) cabin crew member, identified as Maryam Raza, has gone missing in Canada after landing in Toronto on Tuesday, according to a report by Pakistan’s Dawn.
Raza, who arrived on PIA flight PK-782 from Islamabad, failed to report for duty on the return flight to Karachi. When authorities looking for Maryam opened her hotel room, they found her PIA uniform with the ‘Thank you, PIA’ note.
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This incident closely follows the disappearance of another PIA flight attendant, Faiza Mukhtar, in January 2024.
The disappearances of crew members, Maryam and Faiza, actually follow a worrying trend for the PIA, which is itself battling financial and credibility losses. Last year saw at least seven instances of PIA cabin crew members going missing in Canada while on duty.
PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan told Arab News in November 2023 that “the reason for this [disappearance] is an overly liberal asylum and asylum programme of the Canadian government.”
Khan said four PIA cabin crew members disappeared in the same way in 2022, while four more managed to vanish in 2023.
While the PIA officials point to Canada's relaxed asylum norms, experts believe the low salaries of crew and lingering fear of the airline's future, are prompting the crew members to escape after landing in Canada, rather than return home.
