ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party has submitted a calling attention in the National Assembly expressing serious concerns over the decision of PIA to stop its operations in the United States.
The notice signed by Nafisa Shah, Naveed Qamar, Imran Zafar Leghari and others said that the suspension of the loss-making national carrier flights would affect more than five lakh Pakistanis directly.
They said it was the government’s fault that PIA was not a profit making organisation and that it was touching new heights of a deficit.
Earlier in October, it was announced that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) would stop flights to the United States and cut jobs from October 31.
The airline is expected to cut more than 500 jobs under the latest plan.
According to reports, the officials have taken this decision due to heavy losses the country’s flagship carrier was incurring—the losses were estimated to be over Rs 1.25 billion annually.
After October 31, the airline will no longer book US flights through its reservation system.
PIA had been operating flights to the US since 1961 without any disruption. A total of five weekly flights to New York and three other US cities were being operated.
The same reason had forced the airline to ponder upon the option of closing its operations in the US in past too but the political pressure it faced each time hindered its plans, according to the report.
These flights were beneficial to some politicians holding dual citizenship, top government officials and pilots so they exerted pressure on the airline to not stop its US flight operations.
After stopping direct flights to the US, PIA will enter into a code-sharing agreement with an American airline. US-bound passengers will be flown to London, where they will then be transferred to the American airline which will take them to the US.
PPP itself is the reason for the failure of PIA
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