Pakistani International Airlines (PIA) has announced direct flights from Salalah, the capital city of southern Oman’s Dhofar province, to Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan.
A huge part of the Pakistani community is spread across the Dhofar Governorate of Oman. Up till now, they have had to bear a 14-hour journey to Muscat by road and at least four hours of wait to catch a flight to Pakistan.
It has been long rumored that PIA will start direct flights from Salalah to Lahore to cater to nearly 70,000 Pakistanis and finally, Times of Oman has reported that it is indeed happening. A PIA spokesperson also confirmed the reports via a tweet.
Revival of PIA: Pakistan International Airlines to start direct flights from Salalah to Lahore https://t.co/uwkuQ10KtJ
— Digi Fusion (@DigiFusion24) October 27, 2016
Two Weekly Flights
“Salalah has been a virgin territory for us as no airline from Pakistan has ever landed here. PIA is happy to start its weekly flight operations every Thursday and Monday in this very important sector for us,” said Shahzad Paracha, country manager, PIA Oman, while talking to the Times of Oman.
Starting from the 1st of December, the first PIA flight to Salalah will depart from Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, at 12.30 pm and arrive at Salalah International Airport at 3.30 pm.
The same flight will then depart from Salalah at 4.30 pm, arriving in Lahore at 9 pm. The second weekly flight will be on the 4th of December.
“Starting flights to Karachi and Islamabad from Salalah will be our next priority as we wish to provide our customers in Salalah convenient connections to big cities like Multan and Faisalabad,” added Shahzad.
PIA will be using the airbus A320 plane for their flight operations from Lahore to Salalah and back. The plane has a capacity of 158 passengers, with 8 Club Class seats and 150 seats in the economy class.
The once-great Pakistani airline has been on the path to revival recently. They have inaugurated a new Premier Service as well as started flights to numerous other cities around the globe.
