A special PIA flight carrying 322 pilgrims has successfully landed in Syria’s Damascus after 22 long years. On the arrival, the airplane was received with a water gun salute at the Damascus airport.
Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan and PIA CEO Arshad Malik were along the way as well. According to Malik, PIA’s purpose is to promote religious tourism and restore relations with Syria.
On the other hand, the transport minister of the city while praising the development said that the next step will be to make these special flights into regularly scheduled flights. However, the aircraft returned to Pakistan on Saturday.
Earlier, on Ashura, the airline planned to run special flights to Najaf to smooth the way of pilgrims who travel to Iraq during Muharram.
In July, a private airline company in Iraq began direct flights to Pakistan. The first flight from Najaf to Karachi took off on July 16.