KARACHI: It has been reported that Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has been given permission for direct flights to Australia.
The request of direct flights, submitted by PIA, was approved by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority. After the approval, PIA has started its preparations for the direct flights to Australia. This step will reduce the travel time by one-third approximately.
Currently, with the absence of direct flights, It takes around 30 to 45 hours including stopovers to travel to Australia from Pakistan.
To start with, it has been decided to operate a single flight per week to and from Lahore to Sydney. PK-9808 is allocated for this purpose. The operation will start on April 22.
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For the second phase of operation, Boeing-777 will be used for Australian flights which will operate to and from Karachi, Said PIA Spokesperson The overseas Pakistanis’’ living in Australia will benefit from this initiative. As they will be able to celebrate religious and cultural events with their loved ones, Spokesperson added.
Recently, an international aviation firm, IATA Consultancy presented a business plan for PIA, which if implemented would see the loss-making state-owned enterprise making its operations break even by 2025 and record 3.4 percent profits the next year.
Recently, IATA Consultancy, an international aviation firm, proposed a business plan for PIA, to take the loss-making firm towards the path of profit. Initially it is predicted that if the plan is implemented, PIA will see a profit of 3.4 percent by 2025.