Fact-check: It’s true. Islamabad-Karachi air tickets did soar to Rs80,000
Travel agents and airlines’ staff confirm that in the days leading up to Christmas airfare did jack up to Rs80,000
Updated Friday Dec 30 2022
Some social media users appeared to claim that airfares from Islamabad to Karachi, and back, climbed to a whopping Rs80,000 this month, more than double their original price.
The claim is true.
Claim
On December 24, a Twitter user wrote: “Fares are not fair. A new cartel established in the country and in the name of demand and supply. People suffering from the price hike of all private airlines and PIA.”
The graphic he shared with his tweet stated that, “PIA and private airlines hike domestic fares massively, return tickets of Islamabad to Karachi reached Rs80,000.”
The tweet has been viewed over 14,000 times.
Another social media user tweeted that the state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), as well as private airlines, “have exorbitantly increased their domestic fares. The tickets have become extremely expensive because of the upcoming Christmas, winter holidays and New Year’s eve.”
Fact
Travel agents and airlines’ staff confirm that in the days leading up to Christmas, and due to winter vacations at schools, airfare did jack up to Rs80,000.
“Yes, this is true,” a senior employee at Air Sial, a private airline in Pakistan, told Geo Fact Check, “For a few days, as there was fog and children were on vacations.”
He further said the ticket prices went up to Rs80,000 around December 22 and 23, but have now settled at around Rs40,000.
An employee at the travel agency, Sky Travel and Tours in Islamabad, who asked not to be named, also confirmed that in the last days of the year prices of one-way tickets from Islamabad to Karachi, of private airlines and the PIA, shot up to as high as Rs45,000 and even Rs55,000, during peak season which started after December 22.
“It is possible that some people might have even bought [a return ticket] for Rs100,000,” he added.
Mehran Malik, from the reservation department of the private airline, Serene Air, also confirmed that fares increased to Rs36,000, one way from Islamabad to Karachi.
However, now prices have settled at a little over Rs40,000 this week for two-way.
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