Tag: Airblue

  • Several flights canceled, delayed due to bad weather

    Several flights canceled, delayed due to bad weather

    Several flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were canceled and delayed due to overcast skies across much of the country.

    The cancelled flights included PIA flight 503 from Karachi to Gwadar, and PK 768 from Karachi to Islamabad, while flight PK 308 from Karachi to Islamabad was delayed.

    Similarly, a flight from Iraq to Karachi could not operate due to the tense situation between Iran and Israel.

    The arrival of the flight from Istanbul to Karachi is expected at 5:30 pm, while the flight from Karachi to Istanbul is also delayed by several hours.

    An Airblue flight from Karachi to Lahore was also cancelled.

  • Airblue staff asks parents to leave 13-year-old son with Down Syndrome at airport, allows him to travel later

    Airblue staff asks parents to leave 13-year-old son with Down Syndrome at airport, allows him to travel later

    Airblue airline refused to allow a child with Down Syndrome to board a plane. The incident took place on March 13 at Peshawar Airport.

    The Karachi-based family of 11 members, including a Down Syndrome child was boarding a plane when the ground staff refused to fly with a differently-abled child.

    “I recently boarded a flight of Airblue (PA 603) from Peshawar to Karachi and I would like to share my shocking experience. My son, 13, a child with Down’s Syndrome, who is quite well behaved and mannered by nature and has travelled by air as well as other transportation for up to 15 hours at a time without giving us any hindrance was also accompanying me on the flight,” Samina Mahmood, the mother of the child, said in a Facebook post.

    “Just as we were boarding, a ground staff member asked me that as my child has special needs (as Down’s persons are often identifiable facially) would he misbehave on the plane or cause any other trouble? I was confused as to why she asked me this at all but reassured her my boy won’t be a problem. She then informed a superior of hers, and the superior officer outright told me that I will have to leave my child here at the airport as they will not allow him to board the plane because he might be a nuisance,” she added.

    “One of our ground staff checked on the child as he made some loud noises,” the airline stated as per Samaa. “As per SOP staff inquired if he was feeling good to travel,” the statement added.

    The airline further said that parents “took offense” and the staff member “apologised” there and then. “The family boarded and travelled,” it added. The airline said that an “apology call” was made to the passenger and they were assured that the airline will “improve on training and service level” of staff further.

  • Kissing couple outrages Pakistanis more than rape of minor Christian girl

    Editor’s note: According to reports, the Sunita Masih rape case did not take place and was started on social media. The Current has carried reactions by people to the story. Moreover, according to The Current’s own tally of cases, in the past seven months, more than 350 minors have been allegedly raped as reported in the news.

    On May 25, the news of a couple kissing in a flight that was going from Karachi to Islamabad blew up on social media and people expressed their anger over the public display of affection. The hashtag #airbluekissing is still trending, days later.

    On May 25, the news of Sunita Masih, a 14-year-old Christian girl, who was gang-raped in Faisalabad made it to mainstream and social media. As per details, Sunita was abducted and gang-raped. She was allegedly asked to convert to Islam and upon refusal, she was physically tortured.

    People, divided on social media, are asking why the ‘kissing incident’ is receiving more attention and flak on social media than the news of Sunita who was targeted in the most heinous way.

    “Airline mein PDA couple ke liye Islam jaag gaya tha. Sunita Masih ke lye Islam kyun nahi jaag raha?”, wrote one Twitter user, questioning the hypocrisy of people who are more outraged by PDA than the rape of a minor girl.

  • Kissing couple on local flight divides the internet

    The news of a couple kissing in a flight that was going from Karachi to Islamabad is everywhere on social media, and Twitter is having a field day over it with people sharing every kind of opinions on it.

    A couple travelling in an Airblue flight, from Karachi to Islamabad on May 20, were seen kissing in public, which made some fellow passengers uncomfortable.

    “When [some fellow passengers] complained to the air hostess, she warned them but they continued with what they were doing,” he added, “The air hostess then provided them with a blanket to keep their displays of affection under wraps”

    The news has left the internet divided. Have a look at some of the tweets:

    https://twitter.com/talkingcurves/status/1397119035205197832

  • PK8303 — not the first: Timeline of major Pakistani air crashes

    PK8303 — not the first: Timeline of major Pakistani air crashes

     

    At least 97 people have been killed after an Airbus A320 passenger airliner crashed into a residential neighbourhood while on approach to the airport in Karachi.

    Only two male passengers of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK8303 from Lahore to Karachi survived the crash that wasn’t the first in Pakistan’s history, and, unfortunately, might not be the last.

    The country has a chequered aviation safety record, and here is a timeline of the air crash tragedies that shook Pakistan.

    May 20, 1965

    PIA Boeing 707 crashes during inaugural flight while attempting to land at Cairo airport, killing 124 passengers.

    August 6, 1970

    PIA Fokker F27 aircraft crashes while attempting to take off from Islamabad in a thunderstorm, killing 30 on board.

    December 8, 1972

    Another PIA Fokker F27 crashes in Rawalpindi, leaving all 26 passengers dead.

    November 26, 1979

    A PIA Boeing 707 bringing home Pakistani Hajj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia crashes shortly after take off from Jeddah airport, killing 156 people.

    October 23, 1986

    PIA Fokker F27 crashes in Peshawar, leaving 13 out of 54 passengers dead.

    August 25, 1989

    Another PIA Fokker crashes in Gilgit with 54 people on board. The wreckage was never found.

    September 28, 1992

    A PIA Airbus A300 crashes while approaching Kathmandu after the plane descended too early, killing 167 people.

    July 10, 2006

    PIA Fokker F27 crashes in Multan shortly after take off, killing 45 people.

    July 28, 2010

    Airblue Airbus 321 from Karachi crashes in Margalla Hills outside Islamabad, leaving all 152 passengers dead.

    April 20, 2012

    A Bhoja Air Airbus 737 from Karachi crashes in Islamabad due to bad weather, killing all 127 passengers.

    December 7, 2016

    PIA ATR-42 aircraft flying from Chitral to Islamabad, crashes near Abbottabad. 48 people died in the incident, including singer-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed.

    Friday’s tragic episode was the first commercial airliner crash since 2016. There have, however, been a number of chartered and military jet crashes.