LAHORE: In an unprecedented incident at the Allama Iqbal International Airport, a PIA flight to Manchester was delayed by almost eight hours after the aircraft was hit by a catering van.

The flight PK 709 was scheduled to leave for Manchester at 11:45am on Wednesday. The passengers had boarded the aircraft and it was all set to taxi and take off. However, the driver of the catering van drove the van right into the aircraft parked in the tarmac. This rather uncalled for need-for-speed caused extensive damage to the side door of the aircraft, adding another aircraft to the already grounded toll of seven.

Owing to the serious nature of the damage, the aircraft was immediately evacuated and the 203 passengers on board the flight were sent to the lounge. There were 183 economy class passengers, 16 business class and four infants onboard the flight.

PIA manages its own catering services and the catering services fall under PIA’s Food Service Division. The driver therefore was a PIA employee and the responsibility of this rather unusual incident too lies with PIA.

The passengers were told their flight would leave at 5pm local time and till then they would enjoy the hospitality of PIA in the lounge. After being served lunch, they were told that the flight was further delayed and the new time would be announced shortly. The flight PK 709 finally left for its destination at 7:30pm on another aircraft. The damaged aircraft will be transported to Karachi for damage assessment.

Flight delayed after van hits PIA plane - thenews.com.pk

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there are just no words....

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none at all.

I can see running over a squirrel or a skunk, but how do you miss a big plane in front of you? It must be an ostrich as they close their eyes when shit is about to hit the fan..

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ADMINS SUCK

How the heck did it hit the door? I mean how big was the damn van.

Oh and its not 1st of a kind has happened before planes been hit by van and other things on runways.

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what a bunch of idiots on this forum. It was not hit by a running catering van as an accident at a crossing, the catering van was parked besides the aircraft delivering food through the door and the parking brakes malfunctioned, so it slipped and hit the door. Not to mention that the PIA catering is probably outsourced so it was not even a PIA van.

Har cheez mein unbelievable, it happens all over the world koi unhoni nahin ho gaee yes its not that sensationalized.

Thank u

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okay smart ass, if it's so common and happens all over the world, then go ahead and show me five examples of a catering van colliding with a plane and causing an 8 hour flight delay. go ahead. if it's so common shouldn't take you more than 2 min to find examples.

secondly, this is not just an isolated incident with pia. the other day a flight was going from dammam, ksa to karachi and its wheel exploded. the other day flight from london to islamabad had its bathrooms overflowing into the cabin. the other day multiple flights were grounded as faults were discovered in hydraulics system. the list goes on and on and on. and on top of all this, pia is being run into the ground by corrupt politicians who have stolen billions of rupees from the airline, compromising the safety of the passengers and the crew. we have been banned from dozens of airports across europe and the rest of the world due to our low punctuality, poor safety standards, and unprofessional admins. so don't give me this crap "oh everyone has same issues." everyone DOES NOT have the same issues, and your attempts to paint that picture portray you as either very aloof or very desperate to convey an agenda that is false. either way, PIA needs major help, and shoving your head in the sand is not the way to provide it.

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PIA is actually banned from airports? I guess it is time for turkish airways to show their middle finger while they steal the passengers (any left) of PIA.

I think that there is a bigger military reason for having PIA as it does come under the ministry of defense. But, it should have been run like a natonal asset along with railway like a military organization like FWO or kamra, though I would prefer it to be run by a board like Emirates.

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ADMINS SUCK

Hey doc keep it cool. Your rants are pretty annoying and irritating. 8 hours is nothing and if you complain about that you need to get out of your ward and start traveling a lil bit, you would find out how often flights get delayed in USA. Go do some research yourself and please don't start how accomplished you are to be a doc for I have read about that enough on these pages and am SERIOUSLY not interested. I am sure they teach how to google in med school.

on JFK i say bigger then Van

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i am sure i have traveled more than you so don't get me started on travel. and i think you are confusing me with another doctor that boasts about his accomplishments in every post, i don't rememeber doing that except when responding directly to said person. again, my point regarding PIA was a constellation of problems that no other airline is facing, of course there can be isolated delays and isolated accidents, but with PIA it has become a routine problem, that is what i'm saying.

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haha sure, dude you and your assumptions, and then you try to be analytical. And no I am not confusing you with anybody else, the only person whose profession everybody knows on this forum is you. Food for thought there must be a reason behind it.

There is nothing wrong with pointing out issues with PIA but making a fuss of non issues shows a state of mind.

don't bother, there is a self hating breed of narcissistic expats who after finishing school think they have a solution to all the problems while they don't even have the capability to write three lines without using condescending language or self praise.. Its simply disgusting.

you guys keep burying your head in the sand regarding PIA. an airline that compromises safety on such a regular basis cannot get by for long without something major going wrong. when (not if) this does happen, i wouldn't even want to say i told you so because it will mean that a great tragedy has befallen hundreds of pakistani families. i'd much rather you pseudopatriots get off your high horses and start demanding better from PIA and understand that criticism does not equal treason - we criticize because we want improvement and we want improvement because we do not want a tragedy. we as a nation have had more than enough of those.

and secondly, i know what what field all the regular posters of this website are involved with. uncle sam, you do not belong on that list because every time you come on here you are crying about one thing or another instead of participating in useful discussion. for some reason, my success within the medical field pisses you off and i'm not sure if it's due to your own inadequacies or failures or what the deal is, but you bring up being offended by my success a lot more than i bring up what i do. sure i created a medical thread last year to be helpful and occaisonally i will present a scientific/medical perspective to a story, but that's as far as i take it. i am proud of my accomplishments but do try to be humble about them, and so i apologize if i have come off as arrogant. however i do believe that you randomly call me out on my successes in threads that have nothing to do with medicine a lot more than i talk about it on my own.

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