Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is likely to suspend its flight operations on the Karachi to Mumbai route, the airline said on Friday.
“We’re considering suspending Mumbai flights from Karachi but a final decision has not been made yet,” PIA spokesperson Daniyal Gilani said while speaking to The South Punjab News . The spokesperson, however, said the national flag carrier will continue flying to New Delhi.
When asked if the development was a result of the deteriorating diplomatic ties between Pakistan and India, Gilani said it was a purely commercial decision and had nothing to do with bilateral ties of both the countries.
Earlier, there were reports that flight operations were being curtailed due to the worsening bilateral ties between Islamabad and New Delhi. Relations between the two nuclear armed nations have plummeted in recent months with the South Asian neighbours being engaged in a diplomatic tit-for-tat.
Last month, reports suggested that the national flag carrier had designated the newly set-up positions of departmental ‘chiefs’ to nine different departments while some key slots would perform duties independently of any administrative check, and report directly to the board of directors (BoD).
The federal government has been mulling over several options in a bid to improve the deteriorated standards of PIA. These include rightsizing, privatisation and other cost-cutting measures.
