Islamabad: The first flight of the national airline to Europe after four years, PK 749, has reached Paris with passengers.
According to Express News, PIA’s operation to Europe has started after 4 years, on which passengers were seen on the very first flight and all the seats of the plane were booked.
PIA’s Boeing 777 was taken to Islamabad Airport, where flight PK 749 left for Paris at 12 noon. Aviation Minister Khawaja Asif inaugurated the flight. DG Civil Aviation, CEO PIA Air Vice Marshal Amir Hayat and officials of the French Embassy were also present on the occasion.
PK 749 landed at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, PK 749 reached Paris, France eight hours later.
Earlier, Minister for Defense and Aviation Khawaja Asif, while speaking on the occasion, said that a large number of Pakistanis are settled in France, Italy, Norway and Spain. Now the green crescent flag will fly in the skies of Europe.
He said that PIA will not take long. We will try to privatize it soon and compete like other commercial airlines.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, he said that PIA Civil Aviation worked hard and made flights to Europe possible. I am grateful to all the officials of the European Union’s aviation department. They checked our standards. We incurred losses of several hundred billion in 4 and a half years. PIA has a debt of 800 billion while profitable routes are also closed.
Khawaja Asif said that the statement of the former aviation minister had created havoc. For 4 and a half years, Pakistanis were forced to travel expensively from abroad. We are proud to meet global standards. We will also start flight operations to Britain soon.
