The national flag carrier is all set to launch its annual Haj operation from tomorrow (Friday) with a relatively small fleet as 10 to 12 of its aircraft have been grounded for technical reasons just before the Haj operation, as sources in the airline claim that this year is not going to be any different from previous years for intending pilgrims from Pakistan.
Sources in the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) revealed that the airline had an ageing fleet of 39 aircraft of which only 29 were operational and causing serious hurdles even in routine operations. They said for face saving, the national flag carrier had also attempted to acquire two aircraft from an Indian company on lease, but the deal could not materialise as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had blacklisted the Armenian-registered aircraft for all scheduled and non-scheduled operations.
According to the pre-Haj flight operation, the PIA will start its Haj operations from Friday (tomorrow) and will transport 109,000 intending pilgrims from seven major cities of the country. The pre-Haj flight operation will begin from Quetta on Friday with PIA flight PK-1901, which will depart at 6:30pm, while another flight, PK-1601 will depart from Peshawar at 8:45pm on the same day. The first flight from Islamabad, PK-1401, will take off from Benazir Bhutto International Airport on October 1 at 1am while, two flights from Karachi and Lahore will also depart on the same day at 1:50am and 2:20pm, respectively.
These inaugural flights from all major cities will carry a total of 1,737 intending pilgrims to Jeddah. Pre-Haj flights from Sialkot and Multan will commence from October 9 and October 13, respectively, as the operation will be completed on October 31, through 305 flights to Jeddah. A PIA spokesman claimed that keeping in mind maximum comfort to the intending pilgrims, an integrated Haj operation had been chalked out in close coordination with Saudi agencies. However, sources in the national flag carrier indicated that this year’s Haj operations will not be much different from the previous year, as the PIA neither reserved the required space in lounges nor did it set up sufficient number of counters at Saudi airports.
Calling this year’s Haj operation completely mismanaged, the sources said the airline management did not make timely decisions and arrangements. In a late night development, the Federal Investigation Agency lifted the restrictions imposed on all airlines except the PIA, Shaheen Air, Nas Air and Saudi Airlines, from carrying out Haj operations, a private TV channel reported.
