Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had to cancel almost all domestic and international flights on Nov. 2 as engineers went on strike to press for an increase in their wages, the News Network International (NNI) news agency quoted officials as saying.

Hundreds of passengers stranded at airports as their scheduled flights could not take-off from major cities including capital Islamabad and the southern port city of Karachi, the NNI report said.

The PIA engineers have been protesting for five days and they went on strike on Nov. 2 to press for their demands. The Airport Manager Civil Aviation Authority in Karachi Syed Aamir said that strike from engineers disrupted PIA flights.

The PIA General Manager Nasir Jamal said that the Society of Aircraft Engineers had presented demands to the management that also included demand for salary increase.

Angry passengers protested at Islamabad international airport. They occupied announcement box and broke its windowpanes.

Jamal said that the PIA management was seriously reviewing the demands of the engineers. But he said that the PIA had suffered a loss of 35 billion rupees this year.

He said that most of engineers were stationed at Karachi but the strike had affected flight operation across the country.

PIA has advised passengers who have reserved seats to call about their flights before going to the airport.