News, December 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
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Pakistan airlines to start India flights on January 1
Khaleej Times, (Reuters)
31 December 2003
KARACHI - State-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will resume six flights a week to neighbouring India from January 1, restoring air links suspended between the two countries for nearly two years.
India severed air; rail and road links with nuclear rival Pakistan in January 2002 after suspected Islamic militants attacked its parliament in December 2001. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan-based militants, a charge denied by Islamabad.
The attack also resulted in a yearlong military standoff between the two countries, although US-led international pressure helped prevent a war.
“Our first fight for New Delhi sector will take off on Thursday from Lahore,” Imran Gardezi, the airline’s media manager told Reuters.
The flight will leave from the eastern city of Lahore at 0930 GMT. Initially PIA will operate four weekly flights to New Delhi, two from the port city of Karachi and two from Lahore. There will also be two flights a week between Karachi and Bombay.
PIA will operate Airbus A 310 and A 300 and Boeing 747 and 737 aircraft on the routes.
State-owned Indian Airlines is due to start flying to Pakistan from January 9.
“We plan to increase the number of weekly flights to India to 12 in March and we have also applied for additional gateways in India,” Gardezi said.
Before the ban the airline used to operate 12 flights a week to India.
Relations between the archrivals have thawed this year since they began a series of mostly symbolic peace moves. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is due to attend a South Asian summit in the Pakistani capital, starting from January 4.
The two countries restored a popular bus service between Delhi and Lahore this year and also re-established diplomatic ties.
Thousands of divided families were hit by the lack of direct transport links over the past two years as visitors were forced to travel through a third country, mostly via Dubai.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03. |
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