ISLAMABAD, June 3: Vested interests in the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have started a campaign to sabotage the Islamabad-Chitral service soon after its inauguration on great public demand.

The PIA decision to operate four flights a week to the scenic valley aimed at solving the communication problems of the inhabitants and promote tourism in the area had widely been hailed by diplomats, domestic and foreign tourists as well as people of Chitral.

However, only a week after the launch of the service, it seems that the ‘mafia’ has almost succeeded, albeit at the cost of the corporation, to create an impression that the route is financially unsustainable due to shortage of passengers.

Despite lack of publicity about the launch of the new route, a large number of people including foreign tourists have been contacting the PIA offices for reservation of seats. However, the passengers are being turned away by the PIA staff saying that seats have been booked well in advance.

According to the PIA website, seats on the Islamabad-Chitral route are not available till June 13.

But figures collected from the PIA offices both at Islamabad and Chitral showed that on average the 48-seater turboprop ATR aircraft have been carrying 10 to 15 passengers since their launch on May 25.

Officials at the Islamabad airport said 18 passengers were on board the Chitral-bound flight on Friday while travellers on the flight put the figure at 12.

Two tourists - Mohammad Shafique and Mohammad Rehan - who travelled on PK-664 on Friday to Chitral complained at a press conference at the local press club that they were refused tickets for many days. However, on the advice of some insider they bought ‘chance’ tickets and on board were horrified to see the flight going almost empty.

The few other passengers also were those who had purchased ‘chance tickets’ and were stubborn enough not to be shooed off by the PIA reservations.

They said the passengers with chance tickets were allowed to proceed only after some hesitation by the staff at the check-in counter at the Islamabad airport despite the fact that over 80 per cent of the seats were not occupied.

The passengers said the PIA staff was out to destroy the corporation by losing over Rs100,000 per day on this route by refusing tickets to eager passengers.

They said they had perceived the PIA administration was doing this on purpose to show the national flag-carrier in deep financial crunch thus discouraging its privatisation.

An official of the PIA on condition of anonymity admitted that most of the seats remained unoccupied but did not give any particular reasons.