With the prevailing weather condition ie severe fog in Punjab and adjoining areas; nearly 140 PIA flights have been affected causing heavy loss to the national flag carrier as the heavy fog is natural phenomenon and beyond human control. PIA spokesman said here on Friday.
PIA considers safety of its passengers, crew and aircraft as it's first and foremost priority and operates flights only when the weather is favourable. Nevertheless a number of flights rescheduled but still, only operates flights when the weather is suitable for flight operations.
During the past six days, 63 flights have been cancelled, 56 flights delayed and 19 flights diverted to Karachi. These also included 12 international flights delayed and six have been cancelled so far. All efforts were made to operate the flights to avoid passengers inconvenience; therefore some of the flights had to be diverted to Karachi or other airports resulting to incur additional cost to the flag carrier.
He said that passengers of affected flights are informed through Short Message Service (SMS) on their cell phones and through news tickers. The airline has also provided hotel accommodation to passengers of affected flights and the Central Control office is in constant communication with Met office and PIA Flight operations and flights are operated accordingly. Heavy fog and poor visibility, he said was the main reason when one cannot give the exact time of departure of flight, hence causing congestion at airports and distress among PIA passengers as not only PIA but other airlines have also been affected.-PR