PIA to operate 11 UK flights as thousands stranded ahead of travel ban

People stand in queue as they wait their turn to buy flight tickets outside Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) office in Islamabad on July 1, 2020. (AFP/File)

• Last Friday Pakistan, Kenya, Philippines and Bangladesh were put on a red list, travelers from these countries will be refused entry
• PIA says has ample capacity, will fly 3,000 passengers to UK before April 9, travel agents say PIA can only cater to fraction of stranded travelers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), is operating eleven special flights to the United Kingdom to transport around 3,000 passengers ahead of April 09 when it will ban the entry of people arriving from four countries, including Pakistan, a senior official said on Tuesday.
From 4 a.m. on April 9, Pakistan, Kenya, the Philippines and Bangladesh will be put on a red list, the UK government said on Friday, joining about three dozen other nations mainly in Africa, the Middle East and South America.
“With total eleven flights operating in the sector, PIA would be actually transporting more than 3,000 passengers, expat population, back to their country or back to their homes in the UK,” Abdullah Hafeez Khan, manager PIA coordination and public affairs, told Arab News, adding that PIA had already planned a number of scheduled flights to cater to the load of people returning to the UK for Easter, but the “sudden” travel restriction on Pakistan had created “demand panic” in the market.
“Consequently, we actually had to ask permission from all concerned, and we thankfully and very fortunately we were able to mount the flights and we are now able to report that a lot of demand has now been catered to,” he said, adding that after two days of “panic,” passengers had now been adjusted on all available flights and new flights had ample capacity for everyone.
Travel agents and agencies, however, said the special flights arranged by PIA were not enough to cater to the thousands of passengers stranded after the ban, while tickets were being sold at exorbitant rates.
They said only four airlines – Turkish, Gulf, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic – were “smoothly” carrying out operations from Pakistan to various airports in the UK, and they were already pre-booked.
“Hundreds of people are approaching us daily for booking ahead of the travel ban, but unfortunately the tickets aren’t available,” Mohammad Ishaq, a manager at Makkah Group of Travels in Peshawar, told Arab News.
He said thousands of Pakistanis routinely traveled to the UK in April and May after Easter holidays, and a majority of the flights were booked in advance as far ahead as January.
“A dozen of the PIA special flights will be able to facilitate only a fraction of the stranded travelers,” Ishaq said.