https://arab.news/zttra
- Flight operations put on hold for 3-4 weeks because security arrangements to be “beefed up” at Saidu Sharif airport, PIA spokesperson says
- Last week, PIA announced it would resume flights to Swat’s only airport, closed since 2004 and equipped to handle small ATR-70 planes
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), has postponed a planned first flight to the country’s scenic Swat Valley after nearly 17 years, a spokesperson for the airline said on Tuesday, citing a lack of “security arrangements.”
Taliban militants took over Swat from 2007-2009, destroying tourism, but army operations to clear out militant safe havens and improved security in recent years have allowed tourism to re-emerge on the Hindu Kush mountain range.
Last week, PIA announced it would resume flight operations to Saidu Sharif airport, Swat’s only airport, closed since 2004 and equipped to handle small ATR-70 aircraft.
“Flight operation, supposed to happen on March 26, has been postponed,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan exclusively told Arab News. “”It has been put on hold for three to four weeks because of security arrangements at the airport which need to be beefed up in view of flight operations.”
Khan added: “We are speaking with the officials of administration to bring it [delay] down to two weeks. We are really excited about this operation and we intend to operate it as soon as possible.”
Last week Khan had said the purpose of resuming the flights was “to encourage tourism” and tap into the “huge potential” of the region.
There were to be two weekly flights from Lahore to Swat, with a 15 minute stopover in Islamabad.
In January 2019, Pakistan loosened travel restrictions in the hope of reviving tourism by offering visas on arrival to visitors from 50 countries and electronic visas to 175 nationalities.
Pakistan was last a prominent tourist destination in the 1970s when the “hippie trail” brought Western travelers through the apricot and walnut orchards of the Swat Valley and Kashmir on their way to India and Nepal.
Since then, deteriorating security had chipped away at the number of visitors. Security has since improved dramatically in recent years, with militant attacks down sharply in the mainly Muslim country of 220 million people.
A 2019 Gallup report said tourist traffic at cultural sites in Pakistan had seen an increase of 317 percent over five years. Tourism has also been helped by a five-day visit to Pakistan in 2019 by British royals Prince William and Kate Middleton.