LAHORE, Oct 22: There is about 28 per cent drop in the domestic and international passengers at the Lahore airport during a month after the strikes on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon as compared to the month before the incident.

An official spokesman said on Monday though the PIA faced loss in domestic operations, it was neutralized with the increase in cargo business and international passengers after suspension of flight operations by other airlines.

According to statistics, around 115,000 passengers travelled from Lahore from Aug 11 to Sept 11. However, the number of passengers reduced to around 82,900 from Sept 11 to Oct 11.

Similarly, 468 domestic and 252 international flights operated from Lahore before strikes, while the flights volume reduced to 424 domestic and 196 international in the post-strike period. Twelve international flights — three each of Singapore Airlines and PIA, four of Thai and two of Kuwait airlines — have been cancelled since the terror attack on the US.

The Singapore, Thai and Kuwait airlines had suspended their operations. However, the Kuwait airlines is restarting its operation by the end of this month.

Talking to Dawn, Lahore airport manager Sohail Chohan said the post-attack international scenario affected the flight schedules due to considerable decrease in number of passengers. Consequently, the number of flights had to be cut, he added.

He said there were three types of foreign travellers — tourists, businessmen, and foreigners working in Pakistan in connection with their government duties and other assignments. The post-attack scenario suspended the tourism and business activities which reduced the volume of passengers at international flights. Similarly, the foreign tourists who used to fly between different domestic sectors in connection with their tourism or business pursuits also reduced drastically. He said the families of foreigners working in Pakistan also stopped travelling due to fear.

It is, however, learnt that only Singapore, Thai and Kuwait airlines had suspended their operations which does not come from the war area. On the other hand, Gulf, Qatar, Emirates, Aero Asia, Shaheen and Saudi airlines continued their operations which did fly through Middle East and Europe.

It is also learnt that the PIA is monitoring its domestic schedule on daily basis. It is combining different domestic and international flights when a flight is found under-load.

Some domestic flights towards Pasni and Quetta were also cancelled as these airports were closed occasionally for some hours due to US air operations to take security measures or transport relief goods.

Though the passengers’ volume reduced in the post-attack scenario, a PIA spokesman said, the airline got passengers who were considering to travel by other airlines.

Similarly, the PIA had to start three more combi aircraft to lift cargo goods for the US, the UK, Canada and the Middle East as the Air France and Lufthansa airlines had closed down their cargo operations immediately after Sept 11.

The spokesman said the PIA’s combi aircraft even lifted up to 1,200 tons of cargo goods in a week.

Meanwhile, the PIA has got insurance with the Pakistan Insurance Company and the National Insurance Company at a very low premium as its insurance premium with a foreign company had shot up from $8 million to $50 million as Pakistan was declared as a war risk area.