Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will introduce a new weekly flight to India in its schedule in November, PIA Spokesperson Mashood Tajwar confirmed on Friday.
Speaking to Dawn.com, the spokesperson said that a flight from Lahore to Delhi will be introduced to the schedule next month, doubling the number of weekly flights from Pakistan to India.
The number of weekly flights to the neighbouring country was reduced to one in May when, owing to "purely commercial" reasons, the flight from Karachi to Mumbai was suspended.
Former PIA spokesperson Danyal Gillani had said at the time that the move was being taken due to declining traffic along the route.
However, the Karachi-Mumbai flight was suspended at a time when tensions between the two countries were running high over the Kashmir issue, leading to speculation that the reasons may not have been as "purely commercial" as stated.
Tensions have been simmering since the killing of Burhan Wani, a young, charismatic commander of a Kashmiri separatist outfit whose death triggered statewide protests and riots.
Recently, the relationship has faced greater strain with Delhi accusing Islamabad of training, arming and infiltrating militants into Kashmir – a claim that Pakistan has denied repeatedly.
