Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has launched the largest flight operation to the northern areas as global travel restrictions, stemming from Covid-19, forced the affluent Pakistanis to explore local tourist sites.
“The national flag carrier has launched special flights for the tourists visiting the country’s northern areas during Eid days,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan said while talking to The Express Tribune on Friday.
Although bad weather over the past few days affected the flight schedule for the north, still the airline managed to ramp up the number of flights to the highest-ever level, he said.
He pointed out that the national flag carrier would operate six flights to Skardu on Saturday (July 24) alone.
Elaborating, he said that two planes to the city would fly from Karachi, one from Lahore, one from Sialkot, one from Faisalabad and one would be air safari.
The air safari flight will take off from Islamabad and fly over the snowcapped peaks of K2 and Nanga Parbat as well as Saiful Malook Lake. Apart from the regular operation, two additional flights would depart from Islamabad to Gilgit, he revealed.
Earlier in May, Skardu and Gilgit airports saw a massive rise in flight operations, at par with major cities of Pakistan, when nearly 16 PIA flights operated to and from both the cities.
The airports saw a hustle bustle with flights continuously arriving and departing at the same time. A video released by an official spokesperson of PIA showed flights arriving and departing in the background, making northern areas skies look unusually crowded.
According to details, PIA had operated eight flights each to Gilgit and Islamabad airports in a day, the highest number of flights ever operated in a day in the country’s history.
The spike in temperatures in other parts of the country and the fact that you can get to an extremely pleasant weather and breathtaking views with a convenient air travel lasting minutes, is enticing people all across the country, especially Karachi to take these flights. Previously this journey lasted days and required extensive planning and finances.
Back in March, it emerged that three new air operators are in the final stages of certification by CAA and will start operations in the regional airline’s space soon.
Scrutiny of two airlines, Q-Airlines and Fly Jinnah, had reportedly been completed while the third airline Jet Green Airlines was going through the inspection process.
The applications were sent to Aviation Division and later to the federal cabinet for final approvals.
With the addition of three new airlines, the number of private carriers operating will increase to six. Airblue, SereneAir, and AirSial are the three existing airlines operating in the country of approximately 217 million whereas PIA is still the largest and oldest carrier in the country.
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