Wings of change: Political parties to take campaign trail to skies
A total of five helicopters, two airplanes will be used by the different political parties for electoral campaigning
July 03, 2018
As the election season descends on Pakistan, the politicians have made elaborate plans to take their electoral campaign to skies and even rented aircraft from private companies.
According to aviation sources, a private company has even leased one charter plane and two helicopters from a foreign country for this purpose.
A total of five helicopters and two charter planes will be used by different political parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz among others, sources said.
Another private aviation company has also acquired AW139 and MI17 helicopters for the parties’ campaign trail.
It is pertinent to mention that the rent of one aircraft for an hour ranges between USD5,000 to 6,000.
The usage of helicopters among political leaders is quite common, especially when rallies of their respective parties are held in far-flung areas.
On March 22, a National Accountability Bureau probe into PTI Chairperson Imran Khan’s use of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s helicopter had found that the aircraft was also used for commercial purposes.
Sources further said that the documents provided to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) administration confirmed that the aircraft was used for commercial purposes.
