Soomro's 'royal pilgrimage' cost PIA $2.8m

A source in CAA said that Britain's Queen Elizabeth who is also the Constitutional Monarch of Australia went to that country by a British Airways scheduled flight, with part of First Class cordoned off from passengers. Since the visit was at the request of Australia, their govt paid all the expenses incurred upon the visit, the sources added.

The flight to Jeddah is less than 4 hours, where the aircraft remained parked for 4 days, while the PM was seeking repentance from the Almighty Allah.

However, PIA in the process lost $2.8 Million that it could have earned, had the aircraft been utilised for commercial flights. The airline is presently facing losses of over Rs 1.2 billion a month.

The sources said that Soomro during his brief tenure as interim PM, was instrumental in getting extension for an executive in PIA Safety Division, beyond the age of superannuation, in addition to other appointments and promotions.