Flights to northern areas remain suspended

GILGIT: A day after the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said one of its ATR-42 aircraft had been cleared to fly, flights to Gilgit remained suspended on Saturday.



“The flight was cancelled for reasons unknown,” said a visibly angry passenger after the flight was called off on Saturday.

Earlier this week, the CAA had grounded all 10 ATR aircraft of PIA, following PK-661’s fatal crash near Havelian on December 7. However, the airline’s spokesperson on Thursday said one ATR-42 aircraft had been cleared after passing the ‘shakedown test’ and that flights to Gilgit would resume.



On Friday, a passenger said she had boarded the plane but after a while it was announced that the flight had been cancelled for technical reasons.

Meanwhile, an official at PIA said instead of the ATR, they would fly passengers out of Gilgit using a C-130 from the Pakistan Air Force Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2016.