PIA offers New Year discount on international flights

To mark the arrival of the new year 2025, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Tuesday announced a 10 percent discount in fare for people travelling from Canada to Pakistan. 

According to a spokesperson for the PIA, people travelling from Canada to Pakistan can book their discounted tickets until December 10. These discounted tickets will be valid for travelling from January 11 to March 20, 2025. 

The development comes after PIA shared a report of staggering loss of approximately Rs 220 billion over the past four and a half years due to the ban on flight operations, particularly on European routes. According to sources within the Privatisation Commission, the national flag carrier was badly hit by the restrictions.

The ban on PIA flights to European destinations resulted in a significant loss of revenue, with the airline’s financial woes exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had also suffered a loss of around Rs 250 billion due to the ban on European routes.

However, sources in the Privatisation Commission say that efforts are under way to restore PIA’s routes to the UK before privatisation. The successful restoration of these routes is expected to be a huge milestone in the privatisation process.