FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company Chairman Mian Muhammad Idrees on Wednesday expressed concern over the suspension of three weekly flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) between Faisalabad and Karachi and demanded their resumption soon.

In a statement issued here, Idrees said Faisalabad was the third largest city of Pakistan and people from adjoining districts also preferred to travel from the international airport here because of its proximity. He said hundreds of exporters and importers travelled by air daily to various destinations from the city.

He also said that initially PIA started two international flights -- one from Faisalabad to Jeddah and another to Madina. In view of passenger load, the airline had to start another flight to Jeddah.

But due to unknown reasons, the three flights had been abandoned and now there were only four weekly flights on the important domestic route from Faisalabad to Karachi. He demanded the number of domestic flights be doubled.

Idrees also demanded that work on a new international airport be started immediately.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2016