PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) has been granted 5th Freedom Traffic Rights through Leipzig/Halle, Germany the Deutsche Welle Urdu service has reported.
According to Austrian Aviation Net, the stop could be used as part of an Islamabad International-New York JFK service which could commence as early as summer of next year.
Until the advent of the winter season in late October, PIA will continue to serve the US metropolis from each of Karachi International and Lahore International using Manchester International as a stopover on the outbound flights as it is not currently authorized to operate non-stop from Pakistan to the United States. For the outbound UK-US sector, PIA has 5th Freedom Rights. Return flights to Pakistan operate non-stop from JFK to Lahore.
