Government permits PIA to partially resume flight operations

The federal government on  Wednesday permitted  Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to partially continue its flight operations to help bring back citizens stranded abroad.

In the first stage of operations, PIA will bring back a limited number of Pakistani travelers, the PIA spokesperson said in an announcement.

PIA will initially fly stranded passengers from Canada and the UK who were meant to travel to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, the spokesperson said.

Limited flight operations from Toronto will resume on April 3, while operations from the UK will resume on April 4.

All repatriation flights will initially land at the Islamabad airport, the spokesperson said. Once the flights land, all passengers will be tested in the airport lounges and transferred to a local hotel for six hours.

Passengers who are declared negative will be allowed to proceed home; all others will be shifted to a quarantine.

The flights will be regularly disinfected and PIA will take all protocols necessary to ensure its crew's safety, the spokesperson has said.

Furthermore, Special Assistant to the PM on National Security Moeed Yusuf, in his briefing earlier in the day, said that from April 3-11, 17 PIA flights will fly to several countries, and special flights will go to places where our nationals are stranded.

"The biggest concern of ours is testing the people coming in to the country. The technical staff has said that we can bring in 2,000 passengers right now," he said.