PIA announces fares for Air Safari service

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Tuesday announced the fares for its Air Safari service that is scheduled to start from June 12, ARY News reported.

According to PIA spokesperson, the inaugural flight will fly from Islamabad to Skardu on June 12 and the one-way fare for Air Safari service will be Rs25,000.

PIA has named this service ‘Sadpara Air Safari,’ after the prominent mountaineer, Ali Sadpara, who lost his life along with two international mountaineers during their quest to conquer K2 in winter.

The national airline said that the Safari flight would operate every Saturday from the New Islamabad Airport and fly over the mighty K2, Nanga Parbat, Gaherbrum peaks, Deosai plains and famous Saif ul Maluk lake.

K2 and Nanga Parbat are Pakistan’s highest mountains, and are popular among mountaineers. K2 is the world’s second-highest mountain at 8,611 meters above sea level.

Back in 2018, the national flag carrier had announced to launch Air Safari service.

However, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had shut down its planned commercial launch of the Safari flight, days after reportedly announcing the service due to operational difficulties.

In order to boost tourism, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last week had issued TPRI (Tourism Promotion and Regional Integration) license to a newly launched private airline named North Air.