PIA to stop flying on Karachi-Mumbai route from today – Here's the reason

Pic courtsey: Twitter/@Official_PIA

Lahore: Amid a strain in Indo-Pak ties following the beheading of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistani military in Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistan International Airlines will suspend its flights between Karachi and Mumbai from Monday.

A senior official of the national carrier has cited "extremely low" traffic volume on the route as the reason behind the decision.

The PIA operated two flights in a week (Monday and Thursday) between the commercial capitals of Pakistan and India - Karachi and Mumbai.

However, the PIA's Lahore-Delhi flight operation will continue as traffic volume on this route is satisfactory, the PIA official told news agency PTI.

The suspension of Karachi-Mumbai route may add traffic to Lahore-Delhi route, he said.

"There will be no PIA flight between Karachi to Mumbai and Mumbai to Karachi from April 8. The PIA has stopped booking for flights on this route,” the official said.

The PIA management has decided to suspend the flight on the Karachi-Mumbai route because of extremely low traffic (on the route).

"Since we have been bearing financial loss on this route for the last six months or so we have arrived at a decision to suspend this route," the official said, adding that unless a special subsidy is not given by the government on this route it may not be restored in the near future.

The PIA administration, however, dismissed media reports that the Karachi-Mumbai operation is being suspended due to tense relations between India and Pakistan.

"The reasons behind the move are purely commercial," PIA spokesperson Danyal Gillani said.

The proposal to suspend the Karachi-Mumbai flight may have been made for commercial purposes, but deteriorating ties indirectly have affected traffic on the route.

PIA was a profit making entity and earned more than Rs 2 billion in 2004 but after that it went into deficit and could not recover.

Since 2013, when the current Nawaz Sharif government took over, the carrier has suffered more than Rs 100 billion in losses, according to officials.

(With PTI inputs)