LAHORE - Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Monday announced its Umrah fare weeks after the announcement by private and foreign airlines, adversely affecting the business of the national carrier.
A travel agent, talking to The Nation on Monday, said all other airlines, including Ittehad, Shaheen, Air Blue and Saudi Airlines, had announced their fares earlier. Private airlines have secured business from the market by making advance booking, but the PIA policymakers and marketing department announced it late, causing loss to the national carrier.
An officer of the PIA marketing department, seeking anonymity, said the announcement of the fare after so much delay had been questioned by the aviation circles. He was of the view that the purpose of the late announcement was to afford a chance to foreign and private airlines to do their business first.
Another travel agent said the Saudi Airlines had announced its Umrah fare 10 days back, which was Rs 58,000 while PIA had fixed Rs 58,900 as Umrah return ticket price. “But the pilgrims who will buy tickets from travel agents will have to pay Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 extra as their commission,” he revealed
An officer of the Lahore ticket manager office said that PIA had fixed Rs 58,900 as Umrah fare, which would be effective from November 15 to December 15. The same would be increased to Rs 66,000 for December 16 to February 15 and would rise further with the passage of time. Some airlines have introduced their previous fares this year with the raise of Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000, he said.
Yet another travel agent said the government had introduced another formality, known as Etimad visa processing, under which a pilgrim would have to contact the said firm first for finger prints. After being cleared through the fingerprint process, he would be eligible to apply for Umrah visa. Etimad has only six to seven offices all over Pakistan and people from far-flung areas would have to travel to major cities to get Etimad certificate first. Only then they would be able to apply for Umrah visa. It was also a requirement of the Saudi government, he said.
A PIA officer, while talking to The Nation, said, “Today, Umrah fare was announced by the PIA Headquarters, Karachi, and we will inform our travel agents on Tuesday (today)”. He said: “It is not first time that the Umrah fare was announced late; it is a routine matter and every year the PIA management uses tactics to unduly favour other airlines and damage the national airlines’ business.”
When contacted, Rafique Zardari, spokesman for PIA, said he was unaware of any such development. “I can only comment on the issue after consulting the quarters concerned,” he added.