LAHORE: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Managing Director Muhammad Aijaz Haroon is known for his ability to keep his bosses and friends happy, but this very habit troubled around 250 passengers when the MD ordered a Lahore-bound flight to be diverted to Karachi, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sources said the PIA MD and his two friends were travelling from Manchester to Lahore on PIA’s flight PK 710, scheduled to land in Lahore, at 2:40 pm. But during the flight, the MD’s friends changed their mind and decided to land in Karachi.
A PIA official said Haroon ordered the crew to land the plane at Karachi airport instead of Lahore, which they had to comply with. However, a PIA spokesman told Pakistan Today that the destination was changed due to technical and operational reasons.
He said the PIA had only one engineering base for Boeing 777 aircraft, and the facility was available at the Karachi airport. The spokesman said PIA made special arrangements and all passengers were transferred to another aircraft within half-an-hour, and the flight landed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport at 4:15 pm.
