ISLAMABAD: Two aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have airlifted 499 passengers stuck at Kabul airport to Islamabad on Sunday.
Two aircraft including Boeing 777, which had 329 passengers, and an Airbus 320, carrying 170 passengers, landed at Islamabad airport. According to PIA, three flights will be operated between Islamabad and Kabul on Monday (today) as well, as there is a large volume of Pakistanis and other nationals looking to leave Kabul.
The sources said that there were many people without air tickets who wished to get on board the PIA flights. Eight such people were allowed passage, whereas the others were turned away. Among the passengers are diplomats from Pakistan and their families, as well as other countries.
Earlier, the aircraft were not allowed the use of the runway to take off as the US military evacuated American diplomats.
Media reports said that two helicopters belonging to the US military were blocking the runway and over the past few hours, four C-130 cargo planes, also belonging to the US military, landed for evacuations of American diplomats. Several US embassy cars were seen entering the airport.
According to reports, the Kabul airport’s air traffic control has no control over what is happening and all air traffic is being controlled by the US army soldiers. One Emirates airline aircraft and another belonging to Air India, that had wished to land, circled the airport for an hour, before leaving without landing.
Earlier in the day, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan Mansoor Ahmed Khan had tweeted that the embassy is “engaged with PIA to accommodate Pakistanis on regular and additional flights”.
“We are also assisting those who have issues of affordability. Contact the Embassy,” he said.
