PIA to commence thrice-weekly flights to Iraq's Najaf

KARACHI:  PIA becomes the first Pakistani airline to commence three weekly flights from Karachi to Najaf, Iraq from September 14.

A spokesman of the national flag carrier said on Thursday the soft launch of flight was held at PIA Head Office on the finalization of flight operations.

He said that tickets were available for sale effective from Wednesday 23 August 2017.

The PIA will provide through check-in for passengers traveling from major cities of Pakistan.

CEO PIA Nayyar Hayat while sharing his views on the commencement of flights to Najaf said that it is yet another first in the long list of achievements.

He stated that the concept is to provide convenient, seamless connection - through check-in from the major cities of Pakistan for Najaf flights from Karachi on competitive fares.

Passengers, who used to travel through other means with long wait for connections will now be able to fly PIA with through check-in facility, it was further pointed out.

Hayat informed that PIA aims to improve its service standards based on customers' and travel agents' feedback so that the service gaps must be filled while incorporating the availability and demand factors.

He congratulated PIA Marketing and Passenger Handling departments in particular, Tahir Niaz, Senior General Manager Marketing, for the efforts made in making it possible.

`With the induction of more aircraft in PIA fleet, we plan to add more destinations to our network', he remarked.

Chief Commercial Officer PIA, Bilal Munir Sheikh, said that PIA will make all out efforts to provide best services to its passengers and was pleased to see that the Marketing department of the airline has finalized the launch of flights to Najaf.

PIA will initially operate three flights a week from Karachi to Najaf providing connections from major cities of Pakistan with convenient timings.

Passengers will now be able to travel from their respective cities without the hassle of long waits and will get their luggage at their final destination, it was further pointed out.