PIA repatriation flight leaves New Jersey for Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: A special flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying more than 200 stranded nationals left the New Jersey on Tuesday for Islamabad, ARY News reported.

The PIA flight PK-8712 is carrying more than 200 passengers and will land in Islamabad today. The passengers were seen off by Pakistani Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan.

This was the first time a Pakistani aircraft operated a direct flight to New Jersey.

The stranded Pakistanis thanked the Pakistan government for arranging their repatriation to the homeland.

The national airline is consistently serving the nationals trapped in foreign countries due to suspension of the flight operations following the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

It may be noted that, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was allowed to operate direct flights to the United States (US) to airlift its stranded citizens.

Read more: PIA allowed to operate direct flights to US for the first time

The permission was granted by the US Transport Department on Pakistan’s request to repatriate its stranded citizens in the United States of America.

According to the permission granted by the US, the PIA can operate as many as 12 flights in a month to bring back the stranded Pakistanis. The PIA spokesperson had said that the permission was granted to Pakistan by the US after improvement in the security situation.