Direct flights to Sydney from 22nd: PIA

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Inter­national Airlines (PIA) will operate direct non-stop flights to Sydney from April 22 with an interline arrangement made with Virgin Australia (VA) for eight more connecting destinations within Australia.

A spokesman for the national flag carrier said on Thursday that the PIA flights would initially be operated from Lahore to Sydney on Fridays and from Sydney to Lahore on Sundays.

In order to further provide travel access to PIA passengers, the airline has also entered into an interline arrangement with Virgin Australia for destinations beyond Sydney, the spokesman said. He said with PIA direct flights to Sydney, eight more destinations in Australia had also been made easily accessible for the passengers.

The interline arrangement provides passengers with greater options and allows PIA to sell seats beyond Sydney connecting to eight destinations on the VA network that include Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Ballina Byron, Hobart, Cairns and Perth.

PIA’s Chief Executive Officer Air Marshal Arshad Malik directed the marketing and frontline teams to provide best services to the passengers.

Passengers can now book flights through PIA’s website, the official PIA cell and Android app, PIA call centre and also through travel agents, the CEO said.

The direct non-stop flights to Sydney not only bring added convenience of time saving but also offer baggage allowance of 45kg and 55kg for economy and executive economy passengers, respectively — the highest free baggage allowance being offered to passengers, the spokesman said, adding that PIA planned to add more destinations to its network.