Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has formally requested the government to extend the permission for flights operations up to April 18, it was learnt here.

On April 1, the government has allowed the national flag carrier for partial resumption of its operations until April 11 to bring back Pakistanis stranded in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Istanbul, Tashkent, Dushanbe, Baghdad, London and Toronto through special flights.

As the deadline of April 11 is almost here, PIA has sent a formal request to the aviation ministry, asking it to extend the permission for flights operations until April 18. In addition, the airline is also seeking approval to resume its flights to Dubai and Bangladesh.

When contacted, a PIA spokesman confirmed the airline had requested for extension and also sought approval for resumption of flights to Dubai and Bangladesh.

Furthermore, he said that the airline was also keen to resume its flight operations to the countries where flight restriction was not imposed, including Europe, Canada, Malaysia and Thailand, to minimize its losses resulting from suspension of flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, PIA's major revenue earning sector.

The national flag carrier, which used to operate 110 flights daily, including 35 domestic flights, has so far incurred a revenue loss of over Rs7 billion due to the COVID-19 crisis.

PIA has reported net revenue of Rs144 billion in its yet to be audited and unconsolidated profit-and-loss report for the year 2019, and out of the total net revenue, 65 percent (Rs93.6 billion) was generated only from Saudi Arabia and UK sectors, which comes to around Rs7.8 billion per month from these two sectors.

Therefore, the airline, which is already carrying a loss of Rs17 billion for the year 2019, is looking to the government for at least Rs10 billions in financial assistance to run its affairs in a smooth manner after the COVID-19 crisis.