Pakistan’s PIA outlines ‘aggressive’ plan to boost flights to Saudi Arabia

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the country’s cash-strapped national carrier, says it plans to boost the number of flights it operates to Saudi Arabia to more than 60 a week.
The airline, which is struggling servicing its debt, is looking to business growth in the Kingdom, with routes to the Kingdom its largest source of revenues.
“PIA has an aggressive plan to boost its presence in Saudi Arabia. We will be increasing our flights to more than 60 per week and opening new destinations,” Musharraf Rasool Cyan, the president and CEO of PIA, told Arab News.
He was speaking on the eve of the newspaper’s launch of its Pakistan digital edition, www.arabnews.pk.
Cyan has vowed to revive the carrier, which the Pakistan government has opted to privatize in a bid to recover from heavy losses the airline has amassed over many years.
He said Saudi Arabia has always been very important to the airline, which currently has 55 weekly flights to the Kingdom. It flies to four destinations, with 28 flights a week to Jeddah, 10 to Dammam, nine to Madinah and eight to Riyadh.
Cyan said that by mid-2018, PIA will be launching flights to new destination Al-Qassim with three flights per week. In addition to that the carrier will be adding one flight each to existing routes to Jeddah, Madinah and Riyadh.
“This will comprise more than 60 fights to Saudi Arabia thus making PIA the biggest operator from South Asia to Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Cyan said PIA plans to open an office in Taif in western Saudi Arabia very soon. He added that, besides passenger travel, PIA has finalized a plan to enhance its cargo business in Saudi Arabia, something likely to increase trade between the countries.