by Zanita Careem
A man with a great deal of charisma, well spoken and distinguished is Captain Nadeen Yusufzai, the Managing Director of Pakistan International Airways who said
"Sri Lanka and its people are beautiful and we love you, when I met him for a brief interview at the Galadari Hotel on the opening night of the Pakistan Week Festival".
His entourage included Director Marketing PIA, Imram Ahamed Khan who arrived in Colombo by PIA on the inaugural flight from Karachi.
The managing director PIA said "Our President Asif Al Zardari a man of vision and mission when he visited Sri Lanka observed that the country’s tourism was booming.
Read moreWith President Mahinda Rajapakse naming 2011 as the Visit Sri Lanka Year and tourism being the third largest source of foreign exchange, Sri Lanka is one of the potential places to be visited by Pakistanis. Under President Mahinda Sri Lanka is aiming to attract one million tourists by the end of 2011 and time was ripe for PIA to resume flights to your beautiful country. We see the inauguration of PIA flight from Karachi will attract tourists from Pakistan to Sri Lanka and vice versa.
He also said Sri Lanka and Pakistan enjoy strong bilateral trade relations, with free trade agreements.
The new PIA flights to Sri Lanka will deeply facilitate the brisk trade between these two countries.
Nadeem Yusifzai has worked earlier as Director General Pakistan Civil Authority. He is a BSc from Rislpur Peshwar University and has flown the national carrier for 35 years including instructional assignments on all types of aircraft.
The airline also expects to serve a large number of Sri Lankans working in the oil rich Middle East countries especially the blue collar workers.
The three PIA weekly flights to Sri Lanka will save money as the cost of travelling home on a PIA flight through Karachi is cheaper than taking a direct flight to Sri Lanka he pointed out.
We have requested the Sri Lankan Tourist Board to distribute brochures in each and every pocket of the PIA. These brochures will project the image of Sri Lanka’s tourist destinations, the fauna and flora, golden beaches, swaying palms and other eye catching and delightful sights and sounds of your island.
Pakistan is the best importer of tea from Sri Lanka. We want the relationship between Sri Lanka and Pakistan to become stronger, he said in a very polished accent.
Pakistan will waive off the requirements for official and diplomatic visas with Sri Lanka as Sri Lanka is an important country in the region and a member of the SAARC.
The restoration of PIA flights would enhance people to people relationship and increase business contracts, he said. When I queried as to why the PIA stopped flying he replied Any Airlines is a business venture so too PIA, when we found out the operation to Sri Lanka during the war was not feasible we were forced to stop operations. At that time PIA was also cutting down certain non-operational routes but now with Sri Lanka’s economy stable and the end of the 30 years of civil war and tourism becoming one of the rapidly growing sectors in Sri Lanka, the time was right to renew old associations.
Whilst Sri Lanka has all the exotic destinations for tourists, why not Pakistan people enjoy the beauty of Sri Lanka. With the passage of time, we will increase our flights from twice a week to more. Flights will resume from Lahore too, so that the flow of tourists to and from will further enhance tourism for both countries, said PIA Captain Nadeem.
"Pakistan people are really enthusiastic to visit Sri Lanka due to its serene environment and hospitable people and Pakistan students also visit Sri Lanka for various educational purposes. PIA would look at increasing frequency to Sri Lanka in the future while serving more destinations in the world," said the PIA captain
A new PIA office was also opened This move will definitely bolster bi-lateral relationship between Sri Lanka and Pakistan by creating more economic benefits to the aviation industry in both countries. .
PIA will continue to carry with pride the crescent and the star to Sri Lanka and other destinations.
Pakistan Week was observed in Colombo in connection with PIA’s flight operation to Colombo, Sri Lanka from February 19. Pakistan Week presented various aspects of its vibrant culture, culinary taste of its food, trade stalls, fashion show, Qawwali and ghazal singing performance which was inaugurated by Sri Lanka’s First Lady Shiranthi Rajapakse Sunday night.
The inaugural ceremony was attended by the elite of the capital, ambassadors, officials and businessmen including Pakistanis and Sri Lankans.
Shiranthi Rajapakse sat for two hours to hear and enjoy Qawwali by two Pakistani brothers - Ghulam Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad and their party at a hotel in Colombo and later joined guests at a dinner hosted by Pakistan’s High Commissioner Ms. Seema Elahi Baluch.
PIA Managing Director Captain Nadeem Yusufzai and director marketing PIA Imraan Ahmed Khan, who arrived in Colombo by PIA’s inaugural flight from Karachi also attended the function.
Pakistan High Commission in Colombo organized the week long festivity in which Pakistan International Airlines PIA also participated. This is an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two countries and bring the people of both countries closer.
In brief remarks, High Commissioner of Pakistan in Sri Lanka, Ms. Seema Elahi thanked Sri Lanka’s first lady for inaugurating Pakistan week and attending Qawwali.
She said the recent visit of President Asif Ali Zardari to Sri Lanka had given an impetus to the High Commission’s endeavour to bring Pakistan closer to the hearts and minds of Sri Lankan people.
PIA being a profit oriented organization with its hands always on the nation’s pulse has again risen to the occasion and has teamed up with prestigious and world renowned tour operators and travel agents to offer special heavily discounted travel packages to Pakistanis for Sri Lanka to attend the World Cup, A step forward, in line with the management’s policy, to regain the lost glory and to soar to new heights!
The Features of these SPECIAL PIA WORLD CUP TRAVEL PACKAGES are as follows:
• Complimentary Airport Pick and Drop
• Complimentary Stadium Pick and Drop on Match Days
• Accommodation Twin Sharing basis with Bread and BreakFast
• Air conditioned Transport during tours
• City and Resort Tours with English Speaking tour Guides
• Air Fare included
A brainchild of the founder of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, PIA or Pakistan International Airlines had had many glorious achievements to its credit in its more than 50 years of existence.
It was the first Asian Airline to introduce a pure jet aircraft. In 1962 PIA broke the record for the fastest flight between London and Karachi. In 1964, PIA earned the distinction of becoming the first airline from a non-communist country to fly into the People’s Republic of China. It was the first entity in Pakistan to instal an IBM1401 computer in 1966-67. PIA was the first airline in the world to operate a scheduled helicopter service as well to start an Air Safari with jet aircraft in 1993-94. PIA was the launch customer of the latest Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and First airline in the world to operate the Boeing 777- 200LR and 777-300ER altogether — all the three variants available on the market at the time.
Most importantly are the contributions of PIA to the Global Aviation Industry. The birth of Emirates airline was almost entirely in the mid 1980’s. It was PIA which provided a B-737 and an Airbus aircraft for the initial flights of Emirates Airline. The cabin, cockpit and Scheduling crews were all borrowed from PIA. Similarly PIA provided extensive help n the inauguration of Singapore Airlines and Air Malta.
The above are just some of the few glorious achievements of PIA. However PIA never had it as good as it is having today, thanks to the sterling sales performance in 2010.
2010 has been a glorious year for PIA, as it has crossed the revenue figure of Rs. 100 billion for the first time in its history
Pakistan is also home to the remains of the Greatest Buddhist Civilisation ,the Ghandara civilisation , and these new flights will enable Sri Lanka’s Buddhists to go on a pilgrimage to these sites.
Sunday Island
