Pakistan International Airlines. has started a series of international flights to Skardu in Gilgit-Baltistan, which began on August 14 when the first direct flight from Dubai landed at Skardu Airport.
Qayyum Naseer, aboard the flight, told the BBC that he was “very happy” to be part of the “historic flight”.
For Qayyum, who belongs to Skardu, the beautiful views of Skardu were nothing new, but according to him, the views that he got to see from space, he had never seen them before.
He says that when nature-loving foreign tourists come to Skardu by air, they will get to see a ‘new world’.
“When I found out that the flight from Dubai was going (directly) to Skardu, I was very happy,” he says. I had holidays during which I had to go to my area anyway.
I thought I would go to Islamabad, I took a direct flight to Skardu. The ticket was also reasonable. Most of the Pakistanis were in the first flight.
He says that there were foreigners on the flight who had traveled to Gilgit-Baltistan before. When he came to know that there would be air travel to Skardu, he came here specially to see K-Too and Nanga Parbat from the air.
With the landing of PK 324 where Skardu Airport has been given the status of an ‘international airport’, according to some, this could benefit the tourism sector in the area.
