Staff Reporter
Karachi/Islamabad
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), on Thursday, has issued a schedule for special international flights to repatriate thousands of Pakistanis stranded in the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sources revealed.
According to the PIA spokesperson, the national carrier would operate chartered flights to bring the back nationals stranded in the US. Sharing details of the relief operation, he said that, initially, Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) will operate two flights for Washington. The first flight would depart for Washington on May 10 from Islamabad airport while the second flight will leave for Washington from Jinnah International Airport Karachi on May 13.
The schedule for flights between Lahore and New Jersey would be announced later, he added. It may be noted that, last week, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was allowed to operate direct flights to the United States (US) to airlift its stranded citizens.
Meanwhile, government on Thursday extended the suspension of domestic flight operation till May 10, 2020. Director Air Transport CAA has issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) regarding extension in the suspension of domestic flight operations. “As per the decision of the Government of Pakistan, the suspension of Domestic flight operations as effected earlier has been extended up to Sunday, May 10, 2020. “Remaining provisions as applicable to the suspension of domestic flights reflected in the previous orders remain unchanged.”
Earlier, the CAA extended the ban on domestic flights till May 7. The decision was taken after the meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC), held in Islamabad today, has announced the suspension of domestic flights across the country. It may be noted that the aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Wednesday said that the meeting of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had decided to resume domestic flight operations.
