RAWALPINDI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be starting its first Sialkot-Paris-Barcelona flight on Sunday.

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar will inaugurate the flight for which a Boeing 777 will be used.

The flight has been started as part of a strategy to revive national flag carrier and boost exports from the industrial city.

With three more PIA flights including Peshawar to Sharjah, Peshawar to Al-Ain and Multan to Sharjah set to start in February and flights from Sialkot to Sharjah, Islamabad to Doha and Lahore to Muscat already operating, seven new destinations have been opened by the national flag carrier in three months.

PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar told Dawn that PIA’s flight, PK-769, will leave for Paris and Barcelona and the same flight will come back to Sialkot from Barcelona.

Mr Tajwar said this is the first time Sialkot has been connected with Paris via a PIA flight and that the new route will help industrialists in Sialkot export goods to Europe. He added that the new routes have received an encouraging response from passengers.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2019