Chief Executive of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Air Marshal Arshad Malik during a meeting with Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Mohammad Ali Hosseini announced that the PIA is going to start direct flights from Mashad in northeastern Iran to Karachi in southern Pakistan from January 2022.
The two sides on the occasion discussed bilateral relations in the field of aviation and agreed to increase bilateral cooperation.
Ambassador Hosseini in a tweet also revealed that the two sides agreed on increasing efforts to promote air cooperation between Iran and Pakistan. In this regard, PIA is going to begin direct flights from Karachi to Mashad on Jan 1, 2022.
Currently, Iran Air operates one flight a week from Tehran to Karachi and vice versa, and there are reports that Mahan Iran Airlines will resume flights from Tehran and Mashad to Lahore.
Lahore is one of the important cities of Pakistan and is known as the ‘cultural heart’ of the country, so the resumption of these flights can be an effective step in the development of bilateral relations between Iran and Pakistan.
Also, the launch of direct Karachi-Mashad flights will increase movement of different groups of the two neighbors to each other’s countries, including pilgrimages to holy places in Iran, and exchange of trade and commerce delegations.
The announcement of the resumption of commercial flights would open a new chapter in trade and tourism ties between Iran and Pakistan, which were disturbed by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.