ISLAMABAD: Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Aftab Ahmed Sheikh on Tuesday apprised the Senate that the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has made a plan to operate three flights in a week to Najaf (Iraq) for facilitating ‘Zaireen’.
Responding to a question during Question Hour, the minister said PIA has shortage of aircraft and efforts were being made to acquire more planes on dry and wet leases. He said ATR aircraft would be used to operate the three weekly flights to Iraq.
To a supplementary question, the minister conceded that unfortunately PIA had been suffering loss for the past so many years. He said new management has been appointed for two years with a condition to devise a plan within three months to put the airline on right track. To another question, he said all PIA aircraft were certified by Civil Aviation Authority Pakistan in line with international standards.
