Pakistan International Airlines’ decision to withdraw its services from Manchester has shocked and dismayed the Pakistani community living in there. Like all other Pakistani expatriates living in U.K, PIA was our direct link to Pakistan. With Turkish Airlines, now planning to take over PIA’s lucrative Manchester route come October 26, 2012, PIA is all set to lose one of its most loyal and profit-generating customer bases in the region.
No Pakistani expat will be willing to fly Turkish Airlines that will fly them to Pakistan with a stopover at Istanbul that will significantly increase the flight time from eight hours thirty minutes to more than fourteen hours. With no option left, Pakistan’s private air carrier, Airblue seems to be the only preferred choice left for Manchester’s Pakistani expat community. The main question everyone wants to ask is why PIA has taken this step to lose a route that had so much traffic? Can anyone give us a clue?
M.ALI,
Manchester, September 29.