More stranded Pakistanis to fly back from Dubai today

DUBAI: More than 1,000 Pakistanis stranded in Dubai will be flown back today as another phase of the repatriation begins, reported The News on Monday.

According to the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai, four flights have been arranged for evacuation which will take passengers to Karachi and Lahore from Dubai airport. 

The screening of all the passengers would be carried out before the departure and the repatriated passengers will have to stay in quarantine for at least 48 hours in Pakistan.

The consulate stated that two PIA flights to Lahore will take about 500 Pakistanis from Dubai airport terminal 2 and two other flights will depart to Karachi with more than 500 passengers. 

A “flight desk” has been set up in the premises of the consulate by the Pakistan national carrier to sell tickets to those stranded Pakistan seeking to return home.

Read also: PCAA issues new health policy for passengers travelling April 18-30

Displeasure at lack of flight to Peshawar

On April 19, flight tickets were sold to more than 1,000 passengers in the consulate. According to reports, a one-way ticket to Karachi costs Dh1,500 (Rs66,000) while Lahore's one-way ticket was being sold at around Dh1,700 (Rs75,000).

However, stranded Pakistanis from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa expressed displeasure in no flights for Peshawar. According to the aviation authorities, the Peshawar bounded flight had been arranged on April 20 too but it was cancelled due to unavoidable reasons. 

Now, according to the flight schedule, one plane will take off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on April 24 with 250 passengers.

Moreover, two flights will be flown to Faisalabad on April 24 with more than 280 travellers, according to the schedule. One flight to Multan, Faisalabad and Karachi each will also depart on April 28. Around 800 passengers will return in these flights too.

The officials of the diplomatic missions say that the current flight schedule can also be modified due to the number of passengers and bookings with the number of flights increased as well after the government’s approval.