A Pakistani airline is investigating claims of a recent flight carrying an excessive number of passengers, some of which say they were forced to stand in aisle.
The 4.5-hour Pakistan International Airlines service from Karachi in Pakistan to Medina in Saudi Arabia on 20 January is alleged to have carried 416 passengers, seven more than the total 409 capacity of the Boeing 777, News18.com reported.
Passengers told local media that they saw some travellers carrying handwritten boarding passes and others standing throughout the flight.
The flight’s captain, Anwer Adil, insists that he was not aware of the extra travellers until the plane had already taken off.
He said he considered making an emergency landing in Karachi to remove the excess guests, however, didn’t believe “fuel dumping” was in the airline’s best interest.
“I had already taken off and the senior purser did not inform me about extra passengers before closing the aircraft door.”
Captain Anwer Adil
“Therefore after take-off [any] immediate landing back at Karachi was not possible as it required a lot of fuel dumping which was not in the interest of the airline.”
An airline spokesperson stressed that an investigation into the situation is currently underway and “appropriate action” will be taken.
This is the second hazardous incident in aviation to have made headlines over the last few weeks. It follows last week’s Sriwijaya Air error, which saw an aircraft take off and fly for 90 minutes before staff realised the front door wasn’t sealed properly.