PIA was forced to change its domestic flight schedule and cancellation of one domestic flight as two of its aircraft were rendered technical fault due to bird hit at Islamabad and Karachi airports, a PIA Spokesman said here on Friday. Flight PK 390, a Boeing 737 on a scheduled flight from Lahore to Islamabad was bird hit in the late afternoon while landing at Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad.
The same aircraft was to perform PK 369 from Islamabad to Karachi, due to non-availability of aircraft, flight PK 369 with 118 passengers had to be cancelled. These passengers were adjusted on PK 309 and an incoming international flight PK 853 which will now bring them to Karachi from Islamabad. Passengers on PK 309 will reach Karachi by 9:00pm while PK 853 will arrive at 3:00am in the morning (Saturday).
Another flight PK 307 arriving from Lahore to Karachi late Thursday night was also bird hit at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, due to which an Airbus A310 aircraft was declared technical and the aircraft is being repaired at the PIA Engineering facility. Therefore, due to unavailability of aircraft the passengers booked for September 14 Lahore bound flight PK 306 will be adjusted on PK 370 which will now operate as Karachi-Lahore-Islamabad. While, the passengers coming from Lahore on flight PK 307 will be brought to Karachi on another international flight PK 724 coming from New York 50 minutes earlier than its scheduled time of 7:50pm reaching Lahore at 7:00pm and will leave Lahore at 10:00pm for Karachi, the scheduled departure time of PK 307.
During the year 2012 to date, a total of 46 bird hit incidents have occurred at airports in Pakistan causing damage to the aircraft, huge financial losses due to maintenance and repair, revenue loss due to flight cancellations and disturbance of PIA flight schedule causing discomfort to PIA Passengers which is beyond the control of the airline.-PR