Aiming to facilitate people-to-people contact and bilateral business and trade activities, India and Pakistan Friday decided to more than double the number of weekly flights between them and add a new destination for designated airlines in each other's territory, Bernama quoted Press Trust of India (PTI) as saying. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to increase the number of flights from 12 to 28 per week for each side, at the end of two-day talks between their civil aviation officials here. They also agreed to add a new destination to the two destinations currently available to designated airlines in each other's territory. Chennai will be added for Pakistan's designated airlines and Islamabad for the designated airlines of India. This will facilitate direct air connectivity between the capitals of the two countries, said a joint statement issued at the end of the talks. The two sides agreed to designate three airlines each to operate the "agreed services on the specified routes". Currently, only one airline each operates between India and Pakistan. "Both sides expressed satisfaction that the new arrangement would further the objective of facilitating people-to-people contact, business and trade activities between the two countries," the statement said.
