After a five-year hiatus, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has finally resumed direct flights from Lahore to Paris — a route abandoned in the aftermath of scandals and safety bans.
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The first weekly flight, PK-733, took off from Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport at noon on Wednesday, carrying 276 passengers aboard a recently refurbished Boeing 777. This comes months after the national carrier restarted its Islamabad–Paris operations in January, following the European Union’s decision to lift flight restrictions imposed in 2020.
The suspension stemmed from a deadly PIA crash in Karachi that claimed nearly 100 lives and a global outcry over the airline’s dubious pilot licensing practices — a scandal that grounded Pakistan’s aviation credibility for years.
To celebrate the “comeback,” PIA held a cake-cutting ceremony at the airport. The event was attended by CEO Air Vice Marshal Aamir Hayat, COO Khurram Mushtaq, and French Embassy officials including Head of Mission Franck Aubrée — perhaps as a reminder of what PIA once used to be.
With the Lahore–Paris route now reactivated alongside two existing flights from Islamabad, PIA hopes to woo back international passengers and reclaim a sliver of lost revenue — and reputation. According to the airline, the move will not only offer convenience to travelers but also “boost foreign exchange earnings.”
Whether this marks a true turnaround or just another PR flight of fancy remains to be seen.
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