The government had suspended the operation of all types of domestic scheduled and non-scheduled chartered and private aircraft passenger flights from March 21
(representational Photo: IANS)
Domestic flight operations will resume in Pakistan from Saturday after a nearly two-month-long suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the minister.
In a video message on Friday, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that the decision was taken during a National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting while keeping “the difficulties of people in mind”, Dawn news reported.
However, he added that only Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Serene Air would be allowed to resume flight operations between five cities — Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta.
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Khan further added that proper screening of all passengers would be done at airports and their temperatures would be checked before boarding the flight.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Imran Khan that the government had decided to gradually ease the lockdown in the coming days, keeping in view the ground realities, especially the economic situation of the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In April, the government extended the countrywide lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic for 15 more days until May 9 amid doctors warnings against easing restrictions.
Earlier, the government approved a Rs 700 crore special relief package for labourers to help them face the economic fallout of the lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The government had suspended the operation of all types of domestic scheduled and non-scheduled chartered and private aircraft passenger flights from March 21, reports Dawn news.
The suspension was initially until April 29 but was later extended.
Meanwhile, the suspension of international flights has been extended by 16 days to May 31, according to a PCAA notification.
The nationwide tally of the coronavirus cases on Friday soared to 38,799, as per Johns Hopkins figures.
A total of 10,880 patients have so far recovered from the virus.
The total number of COVID-19 deaths in the country also reached 803 with 33 new fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
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