PIA’s Hajj operation hit by delay

Ministry’s lack of clarity in policy responsible for postponing schedule

LAHORE:

The religious affairs ministry’s lack of clarity on the Hajj policy has delayed the PIA’s flight operation for the intending pilgrims, who have yet to receive the schedule.

The national carrier has pushed its Hajj operation, which was scheduled to begin from May 31 to June 5.

After the approval of the Hajj policy, the fares for the flights to Madina and Jeddah are decided. Besides, it also decided from which city the first flight for Hajj would take off. The number of flights based on the number of intending pilgrims is also notified.

The return of the Pakistani pilgrims to the country and the date for the completion of the Hajj operation are also dependent on the approval of the policy.

However, the airline has already made arrangements to operate 297 flights for the Hajj operation.

The Hajj flight will operate from eight cities -- Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta.

A Boeing 777 and an Airbus 320 will be used for the Hajj operation so that the intending pilgrims do not face any hassles.

PIA officials said that as soon as the Hajj policy was clarified by the ministry, the intending pilgrims would be informed about the flight schedule and expenses promptly.

The PIA had recently announced that 297 flights would be operated from May 31 to August 31 for the Hajj operation.

Saudi Arabia has allocated a quota of 81,132 pilgrims to Pakistan to perform Hajj this year.

The state airline’s administration had told Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique during a recent meeting that four Airbus 320 aircraft were joining their fleet. One plane had already arrived in Pakistan last week and was being cleared by Pakistan Customs and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), while another plane would reach Pakistan by the end of this month.

The federal minister had said that the addition of aircraft to the fleet would strengthen PIA’s operations and help expand its network.

The administration had further informed the federal minister that they were expanding the PIA’s flight operations to Damascus, Syria, and Najaf, Iraq, for the convenience of pilgrims. They had also said that they were also doubling flights to Baku, Azerbaijan for the convenience of tourists.

Apart from this, they had further said they were also increasing flights to Skardu, Gilgit, and Chitral to promote tourism in the northern regions. They had added that 18 weekly flights to Skardu, 24 weekly flights to Gilgit, and two weekly flights to Chitral would be operated, and would be connected to Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and other cities.

Rafique had directed the PIA to operate additional flights to Damascus and Najaf on Ashura and Arbaeen. He had also directed them to pay special attention to the cargo sector.

The federal minister had also said the PIA should renovate business class lounges at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports.