In the wake of employee protests which left the flight operations of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended, the national flag carrier has arranged four Boeing 747 jumbo planes to bring back 2,000 stranded Umrah pilgrims from Jeddah.
According to PIA spokesman, an agreement in this regard has been made with Saudi Airlines. These planes will fly on Friday and bring passengers to Karachi and Islamabad.
The spokesman said that on their way back to Saudi Arabia these planes would carry the same number of pilgrims back to Jeddah for Umrah.
These passengers, who have confirmed PIA tickets, are being provided hotel accommodation by PIA at Jeddah as well as in various Pakistani cities.
As a back up plan, PIA is also in talks with Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines to facilitate passengers going to and coming from Europe, America and Canada, the spokesman added.