CHITRAL: Call it an oxymoron or a Paradox but the news is that the newly commissioned airline ‘South Air’ has decided to fly Northwards to Chitral, as was reported here. As per the report, responsible officials of South Air met the KP governor in which the governor requested them to operate air services to Chitral and DI Khan which was agreed by the airline responsibles in principal. 
Air service to Chitral is understandable as the same was being operated for decades until PIA abandoned it some five years ago due to scarcity of aircrafts. The new airline is operating ATR 72 which carries 70 passengers compared to the PIA’s ATR 42 which carried 45. This factor may help in lower fare structure to make them affordable and the service feasible.
As regards the DI Khan route it would be more difficult to sustain due to different operational factors like occupancy percentage etc. Earlier PIA service to Swat on the whimsical orders of the PPP government instead of commercial feasibility basis, didn’t last long. .. CN report, 01 June 2026
2 thoughts on “‘South Air’ to fly North”
I was invited to a meeting with South Air yesterday in the office of Gammons Pakistan Ltd. It was presided upon by Lt Gen Ali Kuli Khan Chairman of Gammons Pakistan Ltd. South Air was represented by their CEO Ms Nishat Fatima.
I explained to South Air the various options they have to make the flight to Chitral feasible and that they can start immediately if they want whereas their flights to DIK will first require the DIK airport to become feasible. I also gave the example of South Air flight to Gawadar which had started a few days ago. The flight to Gawadar by PIA is an hour and a half flight which is extended to Muscat. The ticket cost to Gawadar is Rs 18000 but the ticket cost from Gawadar to Muscat ( also one hour and a half) can go upto Rs one lac twenty thousand depending on how earlier the booking is made. I told them that hopefully some day their flight to Chitral can be extended to Tajikistan in a similar manner to subsidise local Chitrali passengers on the Islamabad- Chitral section.
From the discussion I realised that South Air will need to cross hurdles of CAA before it can seriously start their flights to Chitral.
Past such like announcements have not seen light of the day. Let us pray this one does, though not much hope