ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari has announced additional flights to bring back Pakistani nationals stranded in different countries due to flight suspensions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic.
On a social media website Twitter, Bukhari said that international flights to bring back the Pakistanis have been increased on the directions of PM Imran Khan and to facilitate the maximum number of people.
He said “Even with increased capacity, I request overseas Pakistanis to avoid unnecessary travel and let more deserving people get a chance to travel at priority.”
Bukhari also shared that one PIA flight each will be sent to Oman, Sudan, UK, Kenya, Turkey and Bahrain. The flights will bring back more than 1,500 Pakistanis.
Flights to bring our ppl back ‘ve been increased as per PM @ImranKhanPTI’s instrs to facilitate max no of ppl,✈️ to KSA are also added.
Even with increased capacity,I request #OverseasPakistanis to avoid unnecessary travel&let more deserving ppl get a chance to travel at priority pic.twitter.com/mEdFxy1fXF— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) April 25, 2020
According to the schedule, the flights will operate from May 1 till May 10 and will bring back more than 7,000 Pakistanis from nine countries mainly from the Gulf region.
According to the new schedule, 17 flights will land at different airports across the country and bring back more than 4,000 Pakistanis from the UAE. The flights will be operated by PIA and UAE-based airlines.
On the other hand, five flights will bring back more than 1,200 Pakistanis from Qatar via a Doha-based airline to different airports across the country.
Meanwhile, two PIA flights will bring back 500 Pakistanis from Saudi Arabia to Lahore and Islamabad on May 1.
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