Pakistani airline denies landing by mistake in Jeddah

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has rejected news reports that it landed a plane by mistake in Jeddah rather than Riyadh.
Zain Rizwi, a PIA official at King Abdul Aziz International Airport, said on Monday that the flight landed as per schedule in Jeddah, and Riyadh-bound passengers were transported by bus to the capital city.
Rizwi’s comments come in the wake of reports published in the media on Monday that claimed the PIA had mistakenly landed in Jeddah, and that angry passengers had demanded compensation for the error.
“It’s not possible for a flight on one route to land at another airport, even by mistake. This did not happen. The PIA is an airline not a simple bus that can stop anywhere, so the news was totally false,” he said.
The PIA’s country manager, Shahbaz Ahmed, was not available for comment.
On Monday, local newspapers reported that the PIA’s flight 731 was on its way from Karachi to Riyadh with more than 200 passengers onboard when it landed at Jeddah airport by mistake.
The passengers were later transported by bus from Jeddah to Riyadh, a distance of 961 km. The PIA arranged and paid for the bus trip, the reports stated.