The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has suspended the concessions tickets quota of its employees and travel agents, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Sunday.

Defending the move, a PIA spokesman maintained that has been done to reduce the burden on the national carrier. Tickets can be purchased directly from the website in order to avoid the rush at the booking offices, the spokesman added.

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PIA’s Ticketing and Sales Department issued the notification regarding the suspension of the quota for concessional tickets.

It said that the PIA has been operating special flights on the directive of the federal government and the airline employees will not be allowed to avail the facility of concessional tickets on these special flights.

According to the notification, tickets awarded to the travel agents on the basis of good sales are also suspended.

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It is pertinent to mention here that the federal government had given a green signal to start limited domestic operations with proper implementation of SOPs particularly by flying a limited number of passengers and social distancing during the flights.

Due to these precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, each alternate seat has been left empty but according to passengers the burden of these empty seats is being passed on to the public in the shape of added fares.