RECORDER REPORT

FAISALABAD: Shabbir Hussain Chawla President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) has demanded that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) should immediately start at least one week direct flights each from Faisalabad to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he said that the bilateral relation between Pakistan and China has increased manifold, after the launching of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and One Road, One Belt (OROB) Project. He said that at present our bilateral trade is about 15.12 billion dollars per annum and we are expecting a phenomenal growth in it during the coming years.

He said that a large number of businessmen visit China for their imports and exports. He said that currently PIA and Shaheen Air Lines are operating one each week flight from Lahore to Guangzhou. On the other hand, Thai Air Line is also operating one daily flight between Lahore and Shanghai. Quoting the statistics of passenger load, he said that the current air load available from Faisalabad is around 500 passengers per week which is quite enough for three independent flights.

The numbers of air travellers have further increased due to the Canton fair schedule to be held during this month. He said that the businessmen intending to participate in this fair are not getting tickets even from Lahore or Karachi.

He said that earlier PIA had launched flights from Faisalabad to Jeddah and Medina Munawara on the demand of FCCI. “These flights are getting full load and PIA is earning a sufficient profit from these flights”, he added. He said that PIA should cancel all unprofitable flights and instead start new flights only on profitable routes to overcome its increasing deficit.