Karachi airport presents deserted look as coronavirus affects flight operations
- By Salah Uddin -
- Mar 26, 2020
KARACHI: Jinnah International Airport, Karachi on Thursday presented a deserted look as flight operations remain suspended for national and international flights amid coronavirus pandemic, ARY NEWS reported.
Around 200 domestic and international flights usually arrive at the Karachi airport before the virus affected the operations. Currently, no flights are operational from the airport and all national and international airlines have grounded their planes.
On a routine day, the airport witnesses arrival and departure of 120 international flights along with 80 domestic flights.
The suspension of flight operations have also caused heavy losses to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
It is pertinent to mention here that Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Wednesday said that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has incurred losses of upto Rs 4 billion due to coronavirus pandemic and it could further rise to Rs 6 billion by the end of March 2020.
He said that they were not alone to suffer from the ongoing situation as the entire aviation industry has incurred losses due to the virus outbreak, restricting worldwide movements.
The federal minister said that they operated 27 special flights to bring back 8824 Umrah pilgrims from Saudi Arabia while Pakistanis stranded in Qatar and United Arab Emirates were also brought back to homeland via special flights.
He said that the country is faced with toughest economic conditions and all segments of the society including media should work with the government to combat coronavirus spread.
Read More: Coronavirus: PIA to operate four special flights for UK, Canada
“Even the strongest global economies have been shaken from the pandemic,” Ghulam Sarwar said.
While applauding the multi-billion relief package announced from Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said that even during testing times, the government was committed to facilitate the masses.
The aviation minister further said that decison to lower down fuel prices in the country would bring down inflation rates and provide immediate relief to the masses.