Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will restart direct services between Lahore and Skardu in an effort to advertise tourism inside the country, based on a report by the local Pakistani newspaper The Nation.
Restoring domestic flights
The flights between Allama Iqbal International Airport (LHE) and Skardu International Airport (KDU) will start operating on June 3, 2023. Initially, the flag carrier of Pakistan plans to operate two weekly flights scheduled on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Currently, the one solution to travel from Lahore to Skardu with Pakistan International Airlines is by taking a connecting flight. The Skardu region is renowned for its picturesque natural scenery and is taken into account certainly one of the favored tourist destinations in Pakistan.
The airline has not specified which aircraft it should deploy on Lahore-Skardu flights. But given the airline’s fleet situation, Pakistan International Airlines will more than likely use its fleet of regional aircraft, namely the ATR turboprop aircraft (three ATR 42s and one ATR 72).
Nonetheless, it’s value noting that the Pakistani carrier also operates a fleet of 15 Airbus A320s and 12 Boeing 777 widebody jets, based on Planespotters.net data.
Photo: Soos Jozsef/Shutterstock
Pakistan International Airlines goals to further expand its domestic flight operations in the longer term, according to the vision of the Federal Minister for Civil Aviation, Khawaja Saad Rafique, to spice up tourism inside the country, as per the report.
Reducing ticket fares
PIA has been recently reducing ticket prices on a few of its operations. Easy Flying has recently reported that PIA has slashed fares on its Beijing flights to encourage more travelers from each countries because it saw a specific demand amongst students and business travelers.
In early May, the airline’s spokesperson revealed that the airline was slashing ticket prices between Pakistan and Beijing by 30%. Pakistan Internationl Airlines operates once-weekly flights between Islamabad International Airport (ISB) and Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), deploying its Boeing 777 fleet.
Initially of the yr, China initiated the reopening of its international borders, leading to a surge of travelers and a swift resumption of operations by quite a few foreign airlines. China has emerged as a popular destination for Pakistani students in search of education opportunities, with roughly 28,000 currently enrolled in various educational institutions across the country.
Photo: Leonard Zhukovsky/Shutterstock
In February, PIA also initiated ticket price reductions for college kids exclusively traveling between China and Pakistan. For the past six months, the airline has offered as much as a 27% discount for college kids. In December 2022, the Pakistani airline initially introduced discounted fares for college kids traveling between Beijing and Islamabad. In a while, these fare reductions were prolonged to incorporate the Islamabad-Chengdu route. Commenting on the worth reduction, PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan, said on the time:
“After the resumption of flights to Beijing, numerous students and businessmen are thronging to China. They repeatedly requested PIA to regulate the fares to the pre-COVID-19 ticket prices”
What are your thoughts on the resumption of domestic flights and the efforts to boost domestic tourism inside Pakistan? Tell us within the comments section below.
Sources: The Nation, Planespotters.net
