Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has set a record for operating an international flight with only one passenger on board from Manchester to Islamabad.
The PIA-chartered Hi Fly Airbus A330neo, with registration, CS-TKY operated the special chartered flight PK-9702 on humanitarian grounds. The aircraft has a capacity of 371 passengers split between business and economy class.
The airline spokesperson said that the Pakistani government granted permission for the special chartered flight on humanitarian grounds after a passenger from Gujrat requested the authorities. Currently, PIA is banned from flying to the EU and UK.
The flight departed Manchester Airport at 19:17 local time and landed in Islamabad at 07:43 local time. The Pakistan government has temporarily suspended flight from the UK on 22nd December due to fears of the new strain of COVID-19.
PIA has recently launched an employee voluntary separation scheme (VSS) to reduce its staff to return to profitability in a few years, and so far, 2,000 employees have applied for it.
Feature Image: “Hi Fly”