ISLAMABAD: A private airliner is planning to launch flights to Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan soon.
The Chinese airlines will operate daily flights to Chitral, Gilgit and Skardu from Islamabad and Lahore.
As part of its launch plan, South Air will begin its operations with two turboprop aircraft, ensuring improved connectivity to the scenic northern areas of Pakistan.
It may be mentioned that four years ago, another airliner, North Air, had announced to operate flights for Gilgit, Skardu, Chitral and Gwadar.
Initially, the airline was to operate flights between Islamabad-Gilgit, Islamabad-Skardu, Islamabad-Chitral and Islamabad-Gwadar.
This year, PIA has also announced to operate two weekly flights on the Islamabad-Chitral routes. The PIA once operated three daily flights to Chitral from Peshawar but after construction of the Lowari tunnel it reduced and then stopped its service on the route.
A few years ago, it started flights to Chitral from Islamabad on a weekly basis mainly to facilitate tourists. However, as the airlines frequently cancelled the flights at the eleventh hour citing bad weather the travellers lost trust and avoided booking tickets leading to winding up of the operation.
The location of the new Islamabad airport far away from the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad also forced the travellers not to go for it.
This year, PIA has again announced to operate two weekly flights to Chitral from April 4. However, it is unlikely that the national flag carrier would operate the flights regularly.
