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A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight attendant has once again gone missing during a layover in Canada. This continues a troubling trend that has plagued the airline for years. The latest incident involves a crew member who arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) on November 16th while working flight PK 789 from Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport (LHE). He was scheduled to work the return flight three days later, but failed to report for duty.
According to PIA, Asif Najam, a senior flight attendant with the Karachi-based airline initially made contact and cited illness as the reason for skipping the return trip. However, he later cut communication entirely and has not returned to Pakistan. The airline states that an internal investigation is underway and suggests that disciplinary measures will be pursued. Yet, based on decades of similar cases, such actions rarely result in meaningful outcomes once crew have chosen not to return. This incident mirrors several previous situations in which PIA employees used layovers in Canada as a chance to escape and claim asylum in Canada. Economic pressures at home and Canada’s comparatively welcoming policies are frequently viewed as contributing factors.
PIA has faced numerous cases of crew members disappearing during North American layovers. In 2022 and 2023 alone, the airline’s own records indicate that eight flight attendants vanished after arriving at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). Over the past four to five years, media reports show a consistent pattern: crew members land in Canada and simply do not report for their return flights.
The carrier previously vowed to introduce new protocols to prevent these incidents. Proposed measures included withholding crew passports during layovers and coordinating with hotel security to ensure crew checked in and remained onsite. However, these changes have not been implemented in any meaningful or effective way. Even if fully enforced, they may do little to stop determined individuals from abandoning their assignments, especially those willing to forfeit their passports.
Analysts point to structural factors behind this ongoing trend. Critics argue that loopholes within Canada’s immigration and asylum systems make it easy for foreign airline crew to request protection once they have entered the country (particularly those escaping economic instability). While these disappearances occur during layovers and do not directly impact flight safety, they pose ongoing operational and reputational challenges for PIA. The situation also recalls more extreme cases within global aviation, such as the 2014 incident in which an Ethiopian Airlines pilot diverted his own aircraft to Switzerland to request asylum.
The repeated nature of these disappearances underscores longstanding issues within both PIA’s internal processes and the broader economic context affecting many of its employees. As long as the financial pressures remain high and opportunities abroad appear more stable, the cycle of crew members vanishing during layovers is likely to continue.
Spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan told Gulf News the following according to the Toronto Sun:
When contacted, he cited ill health as the reason. The matter is under investigation and action will be taken if he is found to have disappeared illegally.”
Anthony’s Take: This is no coincidence and I guess a new life in Canada is better than what these flight attendants are leaving at home in Pakistan.
(Featured Image Credit: Pakistan International Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
