ISLAMABAD: A spokesperson for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Thursday the airline wanted to increase its flights to Afghanistan by fifty percent.

The statement by PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan comes as PIA CEO Arshad Malik concluded a two-day visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday, where in met Afghan officials and offered to expand flight operations to three more cities — Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat and Kandahar — besides Kabul.

“At present, four flights are going to Kabul [from Pakistan] and we want to increase it to six,” Khan said.

He said the PIA CEO met with officials of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and discussed avenues for increasing cargo operations. “We offered them dedicated cargo,” he added.

Khan said Afghan officials responded positively.

“We need to understand that Pakistan issues 4,000 visas [to Afghans] every day,” and thus there is a huge potential to increase flights, the spokesperson added.

In September 2020, the Pakistani cabinet approved a new visa policy for Afghan citizens, including students and businessmen, as well as a new health visa.

Chairman of the Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), Zubair Motiwala, said the PIA CEO recently met members of the Pakistani businessmen community in Karachi who requested more cargo flight operations with Afghanistan.

Motiwala said seeking cargo flights with Afghanistan was a “pragmatic step.”

“There were many instances when trucks loaded with perishable items were stuck because of border closure … with air, cargo operations will go smoothly and we can expect increased trade in perishable commodities.”

“We have requested PIA chairman to start cargo flights from Karachi to Afghanistan and not from Afghanistan,” Motiwala said.

He said trade volume between Pakistan and Afghanistan had declined from $2.7 billion to $1.5 billion and concrete steps needed to be taken to enhance it.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, said in a tweet on Monday negotiations on a new transit trade agreement would hopefully be concluded in three months.