BAHAWALPUR, July 13: The people in Bahawalpur district will suffer a great deal after the ban by the federal cabinet on the PIA Fokker aircraft flights for passengers.

The elite class and ordinary passengers from Bahawalpur and adjacent Lodhran and Bahawalnagar districts had been utilising this facility to both up and down countrysides. They have expressed dismay over the ban on the Fokker flights and now they will have to turn to train and bus services.

Twenty-two PIA passengers, who had reserved in advance seats for Lahore and Islamabad for Thursday, were informed that the Fokker aircraft had been grounded.

According to PIA district manager Abdul Sattar Khan, some of the passengers reacted strongly to the cancellation of their seats as the PIA schedule of incoming and outgoing flights was upset. He, however, said full return payment of the fare would be made to the ticket holders.

Bahawalpur was connected with Lahore and Islamabad with the PIA Fokker service throughout the week, except on Sundays. Now the local people will have to either drive to Multan to catch the PIA Boeing flight or travel by train or coach.

For the travellers of Karachi-Bahawalpur, PIA Boeing flights offer the service on Friday and Sunday while an ATR flight has recently been introduced to fly on Tuesday.

The PIA district manager told Dawn that the airlines management was actively considering that Friday and Sunday’s Boeing flights from Karachi to Bahawalpur should be extended to Lahore and back to Karachi via Bahawalpur the same day. He said no decision had so far been taken to operate C-130 aircraft on the Bahawalpur-Lahore-Islamabad route as had been decided by the federal cabinet.

It is apprehended that with the discontinuation of the PIA Fokker flights from Bahawalpur, there will be a decline in the revenue which, according to the PIA officials, was increasing here.

BCCI: Meanwhile, Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mehboob Nasir Chaudhry has impressed upon the government and the PIA management not to drop out Bahawalpur from the new PIA flight schedule.