PIA just announced direct flight from Lahore to Skardu which will be starting from June 3rd, 2023. The estimated fare of single ticket is 27,000 PKR to fly from Lahore to Skardu via PIA.
It is a good news for all domestic and international travellers to get rid of byroad traveling. Now, anyone can directly land into Skardu the land of beauty and peace in a moment of hours from Lahore.
The dark side of the story is, PIA monopoly still continues. PIA is the only flight agent to have to rights to fly to Skardu which giving them the opportunity to burden the travellers so huge. A simple maths to understand this monopoly is as follows;
Lahore to Skardu flight fare (700 km distance) | 27,000 PKR |
Lahore to Karachi flight fare (1600 km distance) | 17,000 PKR |
Karachi to Dubai flight fare (500 km distance) | 21,000 PKR |
The cost of travelling compare to flying distance tells the whole story. But unfortunately, state owned flying agency’s ill treated system is draining a huge amount of money from the public.