PIA charging higher airfares from passengers in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) officials are charding higher amounts of tickets from workers in Islamabad who arrived in the country during the coronavirus pandemic from Saudi Arabia.

The workers whose visas were expiring on September 30 bought expensive tickets of Rs 129,000 to 150,000 and returned to their jobs in Saudi Arabia.

The passengers further informed that the agents outside the PIA office were charging Rs130,000 for a one-way ticket, while the actual cost is Rs70,000.

“We will lose our jobs, and due to the recent ongoing pandemic, we don’t have enough money to buy expensive PIA tickets, PIA staff is telling us to pay $200 more to get a ticket,” they added.

The passengers have appealed to the government and the foreign minister to negotiate with the Saudi authorities to extend their visas and operate flights so that they can continue their jobs.

Earlier, vehicular traffic came to halt on both sides of the highly busy Blue Area as the people aspiring to get air tickets for Saudi Arabia staged a protest sit-in against travel agents and the PIA.

The protesters also blocked Jinnah Avenue due to which the motorists got stuck in traffic jams for more than an hour. The situation got worse when protesters also stopped the Metro buses that were plying on their designated routes.

Naeem Ashraf, a protester, said a large number of Pakistanis from Saudi Arabia had arrived in the country amid the coronavirus pandemic and now their visas would expire on September 30.

He alleged that the PIA on its website informed that it would receive an additional 100 dollars each from the passengers who wanted to get air tickets for Saudi Arabia but instead, it was demanding 200 dollars from every passenger.

“The agent mafia outside the PIA office is also demanding Rs130,000 from them for a one-way ticket, which actual cost is Rs70,000,” he said. He said: “We don’t have any job opportunities in Pakistan due to which we want to go back to Saudi Arabia to earn a livelihood. Our visas will get expired if we are not given air tickets on time.”

The PIA spokesman said that the airline was limited to 23 weekly flights due to COVID-19 but it had sought permission from Saudi Arabia to add another 28 flights due to the huge rush of passengers.