In the not so distant past, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was banned from operating to EU airports. The ban was a result of an investigation into ‘fake’ licenses held by pilots for the carrier. PIA suspended 150 pilots as a result of the enquiry.
However, to add to the chaos amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, many Pakistani nationals are still requiring to travel home. Therefore, the airline must find another way of repatriating them from the US and Europe.
What have the Pakistan government said?
Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, tweeted yesterday surrounding the effort put into repatriating many nationals from abroad.
Despite massive disruptions in global air travel, we have fulfilled our promise of bringing back stranded Pakistanis & our overseas workers.250,000 Pakistanis from around the world have been brought home. My govt will continue to support overseas Pakistanis in every way possible
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 18, 2020
Since April, there have been flights from 70 countries repatriating citizens back to Pakistan. It is reported that hundreds of thousands of citizens have now been repatriated over the last couple of months.
While PIA comes to an agreement around the charter flights, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has allowed Salam Air to operate six flights between Muscat and five other cities in Pakistan. These are scheduled between 18th July and 24th July.
Is the airline working on a solution?
With PIA banned from operations in two areas of the world where many people require their services, the airline is certainly in a crisis. However, they are working tirelessly to find other solutions around this.
According to Gulf News, the Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security, Dr Moeed Yousef said the following:
The government is fulfilling the prime minister’s commitment to repatriating overseas Pakistanis stranded in different countries of the world due to the suspension of flights because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Coronavirus rate in Pakistan is now falling as the country passes the ‘peak’ of the virus. It is reported that daily cases are now dropping each week.
What are your thoughts? Have you been affected by this? Let us know in the comments!
