LONDON: Two PIA flights carrying nearly 600 British citizens landed in Manchester and London on Saturday evening, bringing relief to travelers stranded in Pakistan as international travel was curbed during the coronavirus pandemic.

A spokesperson for the British High Commission in Pakistan said: “Today we saw over 600 Brits get back home, with hundreds more to arrive later this weekend. With more flights scheduled to leave from locations across Pakistan later this week we will see many hundreds of people returning home.”

The flights left Pakistan as pressure built on British authorities to repatriate vulnerable citizens that were stuck in Pakistan as the government had banned international commercial flights for the period of March 21 to April 4.

British High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner said that PIA will advertise eight additional flights to the UK from Pakistan between April 5 to 8.

While the resumption of special flights brought relief to the several hundred passengers who were eager to return to the UK, dozens of others were unable to secure a seat. Those that did said they paid exorbitantly high fares.

British national Mohammad Safdar, a high-risk patient who has had a kidney transplant, described how he frantically rushed to grab a ticket on Friday but was unsuccessful. “The British High Commission gave a list of vulnerable passengers to PIA, so we got a call from the airline asking us to come to their Blue Zone office in Islamabad to purchase a ticket. We live in Gujar Khan so it took us two hours to drive to Islamabad. PIA refused to accept an online credit card payment and insisted we come in person,” he said.

Despite having been given a reservation number, Mr Safdar said he was unable to purchase a ticket for the Saturday flight as they were sold out by the time he reached the end of the queue.

“I have now purchased a ticket for April 8. For my wife and I, we paid Rs215,000 each to buy one-way economy plus tickets as economy class seats were sold out,” he said, sharing a copy of his ticket with Dawn.

Mr Safdar’s wife Sara Safdar said it is “absolutely diabolical” that somebody as vulnerable as her husband was expected to go to an office full of people who could be potential carriers of the virus.

The UK this week committed £75 million to help Britons stranded abroad by chartering rescue flights when there are no other routes available.

Dr Turner on Twitter said: “Many of you are asking about UK government chartered flights. These are for countries where commercial routes are blocked. Payment is still required for charters. A few charters will not meet the needs of so many, hence our focus [is] on opening routes to get thousands home.”

Reports suggest that up to a million Britons are thought to be stranded as airlines and borders across the world shut down in a bid to stem the coronavirus outbreak.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2020