PIA to close office in Abbottabad from 30th

ABBOTTABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to close down its office here for Hazara division on May 30.

The decision has perturbed the passengers and travel agents. Sources said that the PIA Abbottabad office was catering to the needs of local people, particularly the labourers working in the Gulf States belonging to eight districts of Hazara division including Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Torghar, Battagram, Mansehra, Haripur and Abbottabad.

The other main affectees would be the personnel of armed forces. The Pakistan Military Academy Kakul, the Baloch and the Frontier Force regiments centres in Abbottabad, Army Medical Corps Centre and other allied units of Pakistan Army are all located in Abbottabad. A staff requesting anonymity confirmed the decision about the closure of the PIA office established in 1990. He said more than 200 travel agents were linked with the PIA Abbottabad office. They normally booked flights for the passengers and did not charge them for making any change in their reservations. He said that after the closure of Abbottabad office, the consumers would have to either contact Peshawar or Rawalpindi office of PIA for making reservations.

“The travel agents working in far-flung areas of Hazara would find it hard to cancel the bookings from PIA Peshawar or Rawalpindi office,” he added. Meanwhile, a large number of passengers asked PIA Chairman Arshad Malik to revisit the decision of closing the PIA Abbottabad office. The local residents asked federal ministers Omer Ayub Khan and Azam Khan Swati and Speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, all elected representatives from Hazara, to intervene in the matter and get the decision reversed.