KARACHI: A day after Pakistan partially opened its airspace and allowed domestic and international airlines to resume flight operations at four airports, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered the national flag carrier to give priority to the passengers stranded in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries.

The flight operations at the international airports in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta fully resumed on Saturday and foreign airlines, as well as Pakistan International Airlines, became operational.

However, thousands of Pakistani passengers hit by the sudden cancellation of their flights were still waiting in different countries for their turn to be taken back home.

PIA’s flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing are still suspended.

A PIA spokesman said that on Saturday restoration of its normal flight schedule from Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta stations started after “remaining suspended for four days”. According to a PIA statement, during the last four days, more than 400 flights and 25,000 passengers were affected, and more than 8,000 passengers had been transported to their destinations since the restoration of the flight operations.

Quoting Aviation Minister Muhammad Mian Soomro, the statement said that PM Khan had given instructions to facilitate the stranded passengers on priority “especially, those who are stuck in Saudi Arabia and Gulf as they may be facing a shortage of funds and expiry of their visas”.

Following the instructions, the statement said that PIA chief Air Marshal Arshad Malik assured the government that “every possible effort will be carried out to clear the backlog within the shortest possible span of time”. He said that very soon the situation would return to normalcy. “However, complete restoration will happen when flight operations from across the country resume. PIA flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing remain temporarily suspended,” the statement added.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2019