PIA suspends flight operation to Kabul

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has suspended its flight operation to the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday.

The national carrier authorities have cited the suspension of flights as a result of “heavy-handed” interference by Taliban authorities, including arbitrary rule changes and intimidation of staff.

“We are suspending our flight operations to Kabul from today because of the heavy-handedness of the authorities,” a spokesman said.

As being reported, the orders of flight suspension came after the Taliban government ordered the airline to cut ticket prices to levels seen before the fall of the Western-backed Afghan government in August.

The Afghan transport ministry in a statement said that prices on the route should “be adjusted to correspond with the conditions of a ticket before the victory of the Islamic Emirate” or the flights would be stopped.

PIA was the only international company operating regularly out of Kabul!

PIA tickets for flights to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, have been selling for as much as $2,500 on PIA, according to travel agents in Kabul, compared with $120-$150 before.

Most of the international airlines are no longer flying to Afghanistan.