Govt announces concessionary airfare for students stuck in Wuhan

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to offer subsidised tickets to students stranded in China for special repatriation flights starting from May 18.

The students, who remained stuck in Wuhan city of China due to the coronavirus pandemic, would be given tickets at subsidized rates, said the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development. The gesture is to thank Pakistani students for extending cooperation and showing patience during the pandemic outbreak.

Taking to Twitter, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari said that the Pakistani students in China have suffered a lot due to the outbreak. Therefore, the subsidised tickets for Rs50,000 are a gesture to thank them for their cooperation.

“As a special gesture for the Pakistani students in Wuhan for their patience during the COVID-19 as they have suffered the most, we are offering subsidised tickets at 50k (50,000) for special repatriation flight on May 18,” Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Sayed Zulfi Bukhari said in a tweet.

As a spcl gesture for ???????? students in Wuhan for their patience during #Covid as they’ve suffered most, we‘re offering subsidised tickets at Rs.50k for spcl repatriation flt on 18May.
Thankyou to everyone at @Official_PIA & @ForeignOfficePk for coming together to make this happen

— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) May 15, 2020

He also thanked the Foreign Office and the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) over the evacuation of the Pakistani students who had been stranded in Wuhan for months.

Last week, Zulfi Bukhari had announced that Pakistan would send its first flight on May 18 (Monday) to repatriate students from Wuhan, China. He said that they have been the bravest soldiers and Prime Minister Imran Khan and the nation are proud of them.

Some 300 Pakistani students would be airlifted from Wuhan through the special flight, the SAPM informed the parents of students in a meeting on Friday. The parents were told that a plan had been devised to bring back their children. The parents welcomed the government’s move of offering the ticket at concessionary rates.