Passengers forced to stand on a PIA flight

Lahore - The passengers were boarded on an overbooked PK-743 flight

With the capacity of 409 passengers, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight boarded 416 passengers, forcing seven passengers to stand.
In a serious breach of safety regulations, the passengers were standing on a four-hour flight from Karachi to Madinah on January 20.
According to the Express Tribune, the passengers were boarded on an overbooked PK-743 flight.
"After take-off when I came out of the cockpit, the senior purser informed me that there were some extra people who were boarded by traffic staff. I also noticed that some of them were people whom I had categorically refused jump seats at the check-in counter before the flight when they approached me for grant of the jump seat," Captain Anwer Adil, who operated the flight on January 20, said in a statement quoted by Express Tribune.
"I had already left and the senior purser did not point out extra passengers before closing the aircraft door. Therefore after take-off, immediate landing back in Karachi was not possible. It may be appreciated that immediate landing in Karachi after take-off required a lot of fuel dumping which was not in the interest of the airline," he added.
Further, the captain said, "In Madina and after landing in Karachi from return flight, I could not highlight this fact in the captain's debrief."
The matter is currently being investigated.

• Pakistan