MULTAN: Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has demanded from Pakistan International Airline (PIA) to start new route from Quetta to Multan for the facilitation of business community of South Punjab.
President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) Mian Fazal Elahi Sheikh has said that there was no concession in fare of PIA’s domestic flights for the travellers of South Punjab while people of Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore are enjoying this facility. He was talking to district manager of PIA Syed Baqar Naqvi along with a delegation of MCCI office bearers including Mian Rashid Iqbal Senior Vice President, Muhammad Azhar Baluch, Aurangzeb Alamgir and Muhammad Shafiq Secretary-General. He said that traders, industrialists and exporters were facing manifold difficulties due to non-availability of flights for different destinations and discriminatory fare and other facilities. He stressed the need for resolving these problems immediately.
Mian Fazal Elahi said that travellers of south Punjab double fare either on single- or double-way tickets than travelers of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. He further said that there was no flight for Quetta from Multan and traders are forced to travel to Lahore to catch the Quetta flights. Resultantly, our business was hitting hard with the traders of Baluchistan. He suggested that Lahore-Quetta flight must be landed at Multan to facilitate the travellers of South Punjab. At least two flights must be introduced on Islamabad Multan route.
MCCI President said that PIA had allowed one attache case of 30 kg on international flights but it is not possible for aged passengers to carry 30 kg load. PIA should allow them to take at least three attache cases of lightweight. Senior Vice President of MCCI Mian Rashid Iqbal also highlighted some other problems confronted by them. Azhar Baluch suggested that PIA should provide better facilities than other airlines to its passengers to earn their confidence. District Manager Baqar Naqvi assured the delegation to resolve these problems and submit their suggestions to headquarter. Manager (Sales) Farah Deeba, Sales Promotion Officers Irfan Sheikh and A.D. Maitla also joined the meeting.
