PIA suffers Rs4 billion losses amidst coronavirus crisis

ISLAMABAD:     Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suffered over Rs4 billion loss owing to suspension of its flight operations amidst coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suffered Rs2.5 billion loss during the last 10 days, sources said.
The sources maintained that empty aircraft were being sent to Saudi Arabia to bring back the Pakistani pilgrims.
The national flag carrier suspended flights on several routes, including China, Kuwait, Qatar, Italy, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the aviation industry is badly affected by coronavirus globally.
Experts warned that most of the airlines will face bankruptcy by end of May owing to the deadly virus.
Earlier, as part of precautionary measures, the PIA had suspended its Beijing flights.
The national flag carrier’s flights, PK-852 (Islamabad to Beijing to Tokyo) and PK-853 (Beijing to Islamabad) will remain suspended until March 15.
The decision to suspend the flights were part of measures to prevent a possible spread of the epidemic in the country.
Outbreak of a novel coronavirus had killed over 2,200 people and infected more than 75,500 others in mainland China.