A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight took off from Australian city of Melbourne on Sunday, repatriating 250 Pakistanis stranded there, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

According to the Pakistan High Commission in Australia, the PIA took off from Melbourne Airport at 1.00 pm local time.

On this occasion, the Pakistani passengers praised Pakistan government and the PIA for their repatriation.

The Pakistani High Commissioner and the Consul General said saw off the Pakistani passengers.

The PIA plane departed for Australia on Friday last to bring back the stranded Pakistanis. A PIA spokesperson then said that a special flight, PK-8963, had departed for Melbourne for the first time in the history with more than 300 passengers on board including Australian nationals.

On April 22, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had decided to operate 53 special flights from to facilitate Pakistanis stranded abroad. According to details, the flights would be operated for Algeria, Khartoum, Nairobi, Oman, Zurich, Amsterdam, Turkey and Jeddah to bring the Pakistani citizens.

The PIA asked the passengers who were unable to travel to Pakistan from these destinations due to suspension of flight operations amid COVID-19 pandemic to contact the airline’s call centre and provide their local numbers for coordination.

The numbers would be used to inform the passengers regarding booking procedures, flight suspension and other details pertaining to changes made in the flight operations.

 

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