Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will resume flights from Islamabad to Kabul next week, a spokesman told AFP Saturday, becoming the first foreign commercial service since the Taliban seized power last month.PIA has also announced to operate special flights for Najaf, Baghdad, and Damascus on the occasion of Arbaeen.
According to the airline, these special flights will operate directly from Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. The airline will operate 12 flights from Karachi – eights for Najaf, three for Damascus, and one flight for Baghdad. Similarly, five special flights will be operated from Lahore – three flights for Najaf and each flight for Baghdad and Damascus while PIA will operate only one flight for Najaf from the Islamabad sector. Moreover, the airline said that these flights will begin from September 17 and remain continued till September 24.
Kabul airport was severely damaged during a chaotic evacuation of over 120,000 people that ended with the withdrawal of US forces on August 30. The Taliban have been scrambling to get it operating again with Qatari technical assistance.
"We have got all technical clearances for flight operations," PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan told AFP.
"Our first commercial plane... is scheduled to fly from Islamabad to Kabul on September 13."
Khan said the service would depend on demand.
"We have received 73 requests which are very encouraging... from humanitarian relief agencies and journalists," he said.
In the last two days, Qatar Airways has operated two charter flights out of Kabul, carrying mostly foreigners and Afghans who missed being taken out during the evacuation.
An Afghan airline resumed domestic flights last week.
