Coronavirus: PIA plans to send special flights to UAE to bring back Pakistanis

Dubai - The flights will fly to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Following a successful talks with the UAE authorities, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) operated three special flights on Thursday to bring back overseas Pakistanis from the emirate, an airline spokesman said.
He said the PIA has suspended its regular flight operations to the UAE.
"We have closed booking for the UAE destinations and informed all PIA offices and travel agents," the spokesman said.
"The PIA special flights will fly to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah and bring back Pakistanis in the UAE," the spokesman said.
"PK203 from Lahore to Dubai, PK263 from Lahore to Abu Dhabi and PK293 have already left without passengers to their respective destinations," he said, adding that PK213 will also fly without passengers from Karachi to Dubai.
"We are updating all booked passengers from the UAE through call centres about the latest developments and status of special flights," the PIA spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the airline sources said PIA incurred a loss of over Rs4 billion due to suspension of its flight operations amidst coronavirus outbreak.
Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also suffered Rs2.5 billion loss during the last 10 days due to the suspension of domestic and international flights, the sources said.
An airline official said that empty PIA aircraft were also being sent to Saudi Arabia to bring back the Pakistani pilgrims.
muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com

• Pakistan