CHITRAL: After a suspension of about one and a half years, the national flag carrier resumed flights from Islamabad to Chitral as the PIA flight, PK-660, landed at the Chitral airport here the other day.

Lower Chitral deputy commissioner Mohammad Imran Khan welcomed the passengers and the crew of the flight, and garlanded all of them one by one. He expressed the hope that the flights would boostthepotentialoftourism here.

He said that the district administration would spare no effort to facilitate the operation of the flights to Chitral andwould remove any barrier to the development of the area.

A PIA official in the district sales office of the airline told Dawn that initially two flights would be operated on Saturdays and Tuesdays, and the frequency would be enhanced as per strength of passengers.

He said that the single fare had been fixed at Rs13,500 for Pakistani national if booking was made a week before.

The flights of the national airline to Chitral had been started in early 1960s between Peshawar and Chitral, and it connected the district with the rest of the country for six months of the year after the closure of Lowari due to snowfall.