KARACHI: For the first time in the country’s history, the national flag carrier — Pakistan International Airline (PIA) — will charge airfares in dollars from Haj pilgrims flying on a private scheme.
The airfares for the pilgrims from Southern region and Northern region are likely to remain in the range of $810 to $1,100 and $860 to $1,150 respectively. The airline had priced fares in dollars one and a half years ago, but given the pandemic restrictions, Muslims from across the world were not allowed to perform Haj for last two years.
The airline claimed that the fares in dollar would eliminate discrepancy as its tickets were also being bought internationally. However, PIA will charge the fixed amount of Rs181,000 for the return ticket from the pilgrims travelling on the government scheme.
The airline is expected to take around 14,000 pilgrims on government quota and around 16,000 private pilgrims during this Haj season. Pakistan has a quota of 81,000 pilgrims and normally the government takes 60 percent of the quota itself and allots the remaining to private operators.
Sources said the government has received few applications this year and only 37,000 pilgrims would go through the government scheme while the rest of the quota will be allotted to private operators.
Flights from Pakistan to Madinah and Jeddah for Haj operation were earlier planned to operate from May 31 to July 3. However, the Haj operation has been delayed for a week, as the government is yet to announce the Haj policy. The post-Haj operation would run from July 14 to August 13.
The government Haj policy determines the strength of people going through either government scheme or by private operators. It also determines pilgrims from each city and quota for airlines and private Haj operators.
Nisar Ahmed Khan, an officer of Police Service in Grade 20, has been transferred from FIA to KP government
Formal office order has been issued with approval of federal secretary Science and Technology
Punjab Charities Commission has organized an open discussion between NGOs and students of various universities
Significant change is reduction of KE’s US dollar-based ROE from 15% to 14% in line with other IPPs
This growth is anticipated to have a positive impact on the unemployment rate, albeit a slight one