To improve Pakistan’s tourism business, the federal government is considering introducing an air safari service to tourist spots in conjunction with the private sector, which will fly passengers over snow-capped peaks and other popular destinations of Pakistan
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will grant the licences to private airline operators in accordance with the National Aviation Policy 2019.
The licence would be valid for five years, and the CAA will be expected to approve private airline licence requests within 60 days, according to the details.
On both ends of the air safari routes, private airlines will be exempt from landing, housing, and air navigation charges.
The licensees would be permitted to run flying safaris between Gwadar, Mohenjo Daro, Chitral, Skardu, and Gilgit, among other popular tourist locations. The national carrier PIA has already resumed Air Safari to Skardu.
In addition, the CAA will promote the creation of new landing strips in isolated places via joint ventures or a public-private partnership model in order to expand the air safari’s routes.
Pakistan’s Air Safari Industry
As a significant number of tourists travelled to the country to see its major tourist spots, PIA used to offer an air safari service in the country, which remained a very popular service until the mid-2000s.
However, the flying safari was cancelled due to poor demand, since the number of visitors visiting Pakistan fell dramatically as a result of the country’s law and order situation.
After the security situation in the country improved and the number of tourists visiting the country rose, PIA relaunched the flying safari in 2018.
In May, PIA renamed its safari service Sadpara Air Safari at a cost of Rs 25,000, in honour of famed mountaineer Ali Sadpara, who died along with two international mountaineers in February this year while attempting to conquer K2 in winter.
