PIA suspends Karachi-Mumbai flight citing commercial factors, Lahore-Delhi flight to continue

Flight between Karachi and Mumbai from May 8 will be suspended by Pakistan International Airlines due to commercial considerations, a senior airline official said. PIA operated two flights in a week (Monday and Thursday) between Karachi and Mumbai.

The PIA official said that the PIA’s Lahore-Delhi flight operation will continue as traffic volume on this route is satisfactory. The suspension of Karachi-Mumbai route may add traffic to Lahore-Delhi route, he further added.

“There will be no PIA flight between Karachi to Mumbai and Mumbai to Karachi from April 8. The PIA has stopped booking for flights on this route,” the official said.

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Due to extremely low traffic on the Karachi-Mumbai route, the PIA management has decided to suspend the flight.

“Since we have been bearing financial loss on this route for the last six months or so we have arrived at a decision to suspend this route,” the official said. Unless a special subsidy is not given by the government on this route it may not be restored in the near future, he further said.

The move by the PIA is seen in context of the recent beheading of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistan military in Jammu and Kashmir. Karachi-Mumbai operation is not being suspended due to tense relations between India and Pakistan, the PIA said dismissing media reports.

PIA spokesperson Danyal Gillani said, “The reasons behind the move are purely commercial.”

It is to be noted that since the Pak president Nawaz Sharif-led government formed in 2013, the carrier has suffered a huge loss of over Rs 100 billion, officials said.

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