PIA manages to operate flight to New York from Paris

Amidst Airspace restrictions and closure of Airports in UK and Europe, PIA managed to operate flight PK 723 for JFK (New York) from Charles de Gaulle (Paris) and will reach New York by 10:00 PM PST (12 noon - NY Time) on Tuesday, PIA spokesperson said. He said the flight was stranded with 320 passengers at Paris since last six days due to suspension of Air traffic.
These passengers were looked after by PIA staff in Paris and were lodged at four different hotels. The passengers included 70 senior citizens, 16 infants and three were also provided medical facilities. Besides, PIA also managed to fly PK 751 Lahore-Oslo-Copenhagen. Permission was allowed to fly up to Oslo, while the 90 passengers for Copenhagen will be transported from Oslo to Copenhagen by road.
However, the spokesperson said that the PIA flights scheduled for UK and rest of Europe stood cancelled for the sixth day due to closure of Airspace over Europe and UK. The flights that have been cancelled on Monday includes PK733 & 734 for the sector Lahore-Milan-Charles de Gaulle (Paris) and back, PK757 Lahore - London, PK758 London - Lahore, PK791 Islamabad - Birmingham, PK 792 Birmingham - Islamabad, PK 701 Islamabad - Manchester and PK702 for the sector Manchester -Islamabad.
Meanwhile, PIA's flight operation - Central Control is in constant contact with UK and Europe Air traffic Controllers for clearance of Airspace and resumption on flights. PIA's call centre is working round the clock providing information through voice and Short Message Service (SMS) to passengers. About 20,000 calls have been received and timely information provided by PIA Call Centre.
PIA task force under the supervision of Captain Muhammad Aijaz Haroon, Managing Director PIA, has already worked out a contingency plan, based on which PIA has successfully operated four of its flights to Toronto over the South Atlantic Route. The airline has also managed to bring back passengers stranded at New York on PIA Flight via Toronto.
PIA is also in the process of acquiring permission from US for operating direct flights to US from Pakistan, a positive outcome is expected in this regard, the spokesperson said.
On average, PIA is losing $2 million per day and it is expected that the airline revenue losses may reach $25 million mark if the same situation prevails until the airspace clearance over UK and Europe is graanted, the spokesperson added. Nevertheless, the contingency plan prepared by the taskforce has been tailored to overcome these losses, as the flight operations begin.-PR