Pak's national carrier PIA mulls suspending flights to US

New Delhi: Pakistan's national carrier PIA is reportedly considering to suspend all flight services to the United States from January next year.

The airline has already stopped booking for its twice-a-week flights to New York from November onwards, Dawn reported.

However, its two weekly Lahore-New York and Karachi-Lahore-New York flight service will continue till Dec 31.

The airline has cited ‘low traffic’ as the main reason for its flight suspension. Some 500,000 Pakistanis live in the US.

“The PIA is considering closing its flight operation for the US till the financial health of the organisation improves,” the report quoted the airline's spokesman Mashood Tajwar as saying.

“The national flag carrier is already facing an acute financial crunch, therefore, it cannot operate on routes which are running in losses,” the official said.

The airline has reportedly accumulated a loss of more than Rs. 300 billion.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had launched its flight services to the US in 1961.

In the recent past, the airline had also operated flights for Washington, Chicago and Houston.