PIA to reschedule Delhi, Mumbai flights

Pakistan's state-owned carrier announced that it will reschedule its flights to New Delhi and Mumbai in the wake of a sharp fall in the number of passengers on these routes in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.

Pakistan's state-owned carrier on Tuesday announced that it will reschedule its flights to New Delhi and Mumbai in the wake of a sharp fall in the number of passengers on these routes in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.

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Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), in a statement issued on Tuesday, said flights could be rescheduled according to the passenger load factor as travellers to and from New Delhi and Mumbai had "substantially decreased" and some flights on these routes "are being rescheduled".

It said that "commercial aspects" would determine the operation of flights.

Passengers travelling on the Karachi-Delhi-Karachi, Karachi-Mumbai-Karachi and Lahore-Delhi-Lahore flights were asked to provide contact numbers at the time of booking so that change of flight schedules could be communicated to them.

PIA, which has run up huge losses over the past few years, has already reduced the number of flights to New Delhi from four to three a week due to a fall in the number of people travelling to India.

The decision also followed a move by India to increase to 30 days the minimum time for processing visa applications by Pakistanis.

Reports said the number of passengers on the Lahore-Delhi route had dropped to only 20 to 30 per flight.