Pakistan International Airlines has decided to resume its direct flight operations between Islamabad and Kuala Lumpur from October 14th. The decision to restart the flights was made after Federal Ombudsman’s intervention into the matter.

According to a spokesperson of the Federal Ombudsman, a large number of complaints were filed to the Ombudsperson’s office by the overseas Pakistanis, who were seeking the restoration of the PIA flights.

“The PIA is going to operate two direct flights weekly between Islamabad and Kuala Lumpur to facilitate the tourists intending to visit Malaysia and Pakistan. PIA is also looking to restart flights on profitable routes as well,” said an official.

He said that the national flag-carrier intended to add new profitable destinations in its operations following the addition of new airplanes in the fleet.

To a question he said that PIA is also planning to start direct flights for New York, adding “the plan is under consideration, but the launch of direct flight operation has not yet been finalized.”

In October 2017, PIA had closed flights to New York via Manchester.

“Operating the entire long flight with a stopover was not economical for the national flag carrier that is why we are planning to start direct flights. When a flight is operated through a transit destination, it bears an additional cost as it has to pay extra airport charges and ground-handling charges. One flight is counted as one engine cycle and after a particular number of flights the aircraft goes for routine checks, which is another liability,” said the official

“We have developed a business plan for PIA, which the prime minister has approved. According to the plan, we are going to increase PIA’s fleet and two more 777-boeing aircrafts will be added in the fleet very soon,” he added.

Answering another question, he said that the number of flights for Saudi Arabia have been increased considering the demand of people working there.