KARACHI: Two Italians have proved that air travel is cheaper than even a car journey. It has cost them only 27 pounds sterling each to cover the 4,300-mile Rome-Karachi flight and they hope to make another 12,000-mile trip to Adelaide at an additional cost of 80 pounds per head.
At the Karachi airport is parked a diminutive “Machi” plane, which brought the 39-year-old Italian journalist, Maner Lualdi, and his 27-year-old cameraman companion, Marlo Fibretti, to Pakistan. “Surprising”, say the people who hear the story. “I am the first man to do it”, proudly states Maner, special correspondent of the Italian newspaper, Corrierre Della Sera.
“Machhino”, as the plane is … known in Italy weighs only about 1,000 pounds less than the weight [of] a baby Fiat. This 4-cylinder one-engine aircraft, often used by tourists in Europe … has a speed of 120 miles per hour. Its oil consumption is about half that of a big sized American car — 30 miles a gallon. Its tank has the capacity of carrying 40 gallons… .
It is a goodwill trip of the two Italians who have already visited … Greece, Rhodes Island, Cyprus, Syria, Iraq, Bahrein and Saudi Arabia. They also propose to visit Bharat. … — News agencies
Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2026
