*KARACHI: *Revenues of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) increased 30%in first six months of 2019, the Aviation Division said in its report.

“From January to June of the current calendar year, the national flagcarrier achieved a breakthrough,” the Aviation Division remarked.

During the first year of the current government, the Aviation Divisiondevised a business model to drag PIA out of the depths of accumulatedlosses worth Rs450 billion, according to the report.

The improvement in revenues came from the introduction of new profitableroutes including Sialkot-Sharjah, Islamabad-Doha, Lahore-Muscat,Sialkot-Paris, Sialkot-Barcelona, Multan-Sharjah, Peshawar-Sharjah andPeshawar-Al-Ain, said the report.

The current government also initiated cost-reduction measures to narrowdown losses of PIA. The airline played its part by bringing two groundedaircraft into service, which were expected to add more than Rs6 billion toits revenues annually.

The Aviation Division also framed the National Aviation Policy 2019 underwhich it issued tourism promotion and regional integration (TPRI) licencesto steer tourism and regional connectivity, the report highlighted.