The statement also claimed that PIA’s country representative was “held up at gun point for hours when he left the Pakistan embassy compound” on the Taliban’s “suspicion of aiding and abetting” people seeking to flee Afghanistan.
PIA also accused Afghanistan’s aviation ministry of slashing half the number of passengers from one flight this week that was already in the process of checking in. “This resulted in 176 people, fleeing for their lives, being sent back home by the airline officials, causing nearly half a million-dollar loss to the airline due to higher insurance costs,” the airline said.
Khan said the insurance premium on these flights is “so high” that it is “simply impossible to operate scheduled flights to Kabul, as it is still considered a war zone by aircraft insurance companies.”
Khan also said that “it is very frustrating that the regulations keep on changing for each flight and the authorities always confuse charter permissions with schedule permissions.”
Khan said PIA would reevaluate its decision to suspend flights “if the situation on ground improves and [becomes] more conducive for international operations.”
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