By Syed Mussarat Khalil
JEDDAH — Imtiaz Ahmed Bhutto, Country Manager Saudi Arabia of Pakistan International Airline (PIA), the national flag carrier of Pakistan, has announced to increase flights to Islamabad and Karachi in February 2017.
Speaking to Saudi Gazette at his office on Wednesday, Bhutto expressed his gratification on the increased flight frequency in 2016 as compared to 2014 when he took over the charge of the office as Country Manager of PIA.
In 2014, weekly flights numbered 37, while in February 2016, it has been increased to 56 per week, he said.
He added, due to the newly addition of two day time flights from Jeddah to Islamabad, weekly schedule has been increased to five for Islamabad and seven for Karachi.
The additional flights, PK-741 (Islamabad-Jeddah) and PK-742 (Jeddah-Islamabad) would arrive in Jeddah at 1045 hours and depart at 1245 hours on Friday.
Meanwhile, the additional flights PK-831 (Karachi-Jeddah) and PK-832 (Jeddah-Karachi) would arrive in Jeddah at 1010 hours and departed at 1210 hours on Saturday.
The country manager further said from first week of February 2017, there will be total 27 flights from Jeddah, 9 from Madinah (3 more weekly scheduled flights is in planning phase to operate from Madinah), 10 from Riyadh and 10 from Dammam will be operated to the 7 different destination of Pakistan included Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar and Sialkot per week.
He expressed confidence to expand the PIA network in KSA region, which would provide more convenience and comfort to clients. He also urged the local market trade people residing in the remote areas to become the Virtual Agent of PIA by fulfilling the nominal requirement, so they can sell and get the tickets issued by themselves conveniently at their own places.
Bhutto praised the decision of previous management for the downsizing of the office, and as a result, PIA gets significant saving in terms of building rent of Jeddah booking office.
He also said through senior management and effective teamwork of colleagues, PIA Haj Operation for the Year 2016 was highly successful. There was 98% of accuracy maintained during that massive operation.
“This year we will also try to provide best services to our passengers with dedication, integrity, and commitments,” he added.
