PIA says first flight to Swat in 17 years to fly on schedule 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), on Wednesday said a planned first flight to the country’s scenic Swat Valley in nearly 17 years would fly as per schedule on March 26, after reports on Tuesday that the flight had been canceled. 
PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan on Tuesday night said the flight had been postponed, due to lack of “security arrangements” at Saidu Sharif airport, Swat.
However, on Wednesday, the PIA spokesman issued a statement saying “after removing the initial concerns, the first flight will now depart from Lahore via Islamabad on Friday morning to Saidu Sharif.”
The statement said PIA flights will operate two days a week on Fridays and Mondays “to promote tourism.”
Saidu Sharif is the fourth tourist destination after Skardu, Gilgit and Chitral where PIA now has flight operations, the statement read.
Taliban militants took over Swat from 2007-2009, destroying tourism, but army operations to clear out militant safe havens and improved security in recent years have allowed tourism to re-emerge on the Hindu Kush mountain range.
Saidu Sharif airport, Swat’s only airport, has been closed since 2004 and is equipped to handle small ATR-70 aircraft.
Last week PIA spokesperson Khan had said the purpose of resuming the flights was “to encourage tourism” and tap into the “huge potential” of the region.
In January 2019, Pakistan loosened travel restrictions in the hope of reviving tourism by offering visas on arrival to visitors from 50 countries and electronic visas to 175 nationalities.
Pakistan was last a prominent tourist destination in the 1970s when the “hippie trail” brought Western travelers through the apricot and walnut orchards of the Swat Valley and Kashmir on their way to India and Nepal.
Since then, deteriorating security had chipped away at the number of visitors. Security has since improved dramatically in recent years, with militant attacks down sharply in the mainly Muslim country of 220 million people.
A 2019 Gallup report said tourist traffic at cultural sites in Pakistan had seen an increase of 317 percent over five years. Tourism has also been helped by a five-day visit to Pakistan in 2019 by British royals Prince William and Kate Middleton.