BOMBAY, March 4: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced on Thursday that it would double the flights between Pakistan and India from March 25 - a day after the eagerly anticipated one-day cricket series between the two nations ends.

The PIA would increase to 12 the number of weekly flights as part of its summer schedule. Although the one-day series will be followed by three five-day test matches, beginning on March 28, the longer games are expected to draw fewer fans.

"We will try to carry as many fans as possible for the cricket series," said Salim Janjua, PIA passenger sales manager. He said the PIA had been unable to raise the number of flights before March 25, as most of its aircraft had been deployed to bring Hajis back home from Saudi Arabia.

In an attempt to meet the demands of cricket fans, however, the PIA was planning to use bigger aircraft. "We will operate Boeing 747 aircraft rather than the Airbus 300, which will raise the seat capacity to around 430 per flight from 250," Mr Janjua told AFP.

Since Jan 1, when airlinks between India and Pakistan were restored as part of a peace process, the PIA has been operating two weekly return flights from Bombay to Karachi and four from Delhi - two each to Karachi and Lahore. "These will be increased to five flights from Bombay and seven from Delhi from March 25," he said. -AFP