PIA to repatriate stranded Pakistanis by operating special flights to Gulf countries

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national air career said on Friday it would operate special flights to the Gulf region to bring back stranded Pakistanis who could not return to their country after the cancellation of flights by certain international airlines.
According to an official handout circulated by Pakistan International Airlines, the decision was taken on the instruction of the country’s aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan who asked PIA officials to repatriate Pakistani nationals before the upcoming Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
The statement specifically mentioned flight arrangements to Qatar and Bahrain, saying the airlines would use Boeing 777 instead of Airbus aircrafts since the former could accommodate greater number of passengers.
PIA's top official Arshad Malik said the country would arrange as many special flights as required to bring back Pakistani nationals.
“The nation will always see PIA ahead of everyone while fulfilling its obligations toward the country,” he said. “Unlike international airlines, we cannot leave our fellow nationals helpless in a foreign land.”
The country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also took serious notice of the decision taken by several Middle Eastern airlines to cancel their flights in recent weeks, “causing inconvenience to passengers” who wanted to come to Pakistan.
“It has been noticed with great concern that huge numbers of passengers were issued confirmed tickets that have been affected by flight cancellations causing unrest and inconvenience,” the CAA said in a statement. “It is worth stressing that such reservations should have been made after confirmation of lifting of [COVID-19] restrictions only.”
The statement added that “a substantial number of the affected passengers have been facing great nuisance and financial losses” due to these flight cancellations.
The CAA said it had directed relevant international airlines to provide hotel accommodation to passengers with confirmed bookings to compensate them for their financial losses.