Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) restored its operations to the northern areas on Sunday to rescue the foreign tourists stranded in Gilgit and Skardu because of the airline’s failure to operate flights as a result of the current financial crisis.
In this connection, the national flag career is scheduled to operate six flights from Islamabad to the two airports in the located in the northern areas, enabling the tourists to board the return flights.
Flight cancellations by the national carrier since Oct 14 has forced hundreds of foreign tourists to stay in the mountainous towns while also affecting their travel plans after visiting the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
At the same time, the longer-than-planned stay also mean that these foreign tourists have to face additional cost for lodging and food.
The PIA had to cancel another 53 flights on Sunday even after reaching a deal a day earlier with Pakistan State Oil (PSO) to smooth fuel supply.
It means a total of 650 PIA flights have been cancelled on domestic and international routes since the middle of this month as the PSO started providing less fuel as the airline failed to pay its dues.
However, a PIA spokesperson on Saturday said they had reached an agreement with the PSO and that the fuel supply would return to normal in the coming days.
The statement came after it was reported that the PSO had agreed to increase the credit limit for the airline to Rs500 million while the national flag carrier would continue paying Rs100m daily.
It means the PIA flight operations will gradually improve, much to the relief to its management which saw huge losses in recent days.__The Nation
