Islamabad: Two Pakistani sisters working as pilots for the country’s national flag carrier PIA have scripted history by becoming the first such pair to fly a Boeing 777 aircraft together, the airlines said on Wednesday.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesman Danyal Gilani said that Maryam Masood and Erum Masood have been flying different planes but finally ended up in the same plane.
The two sisters flew the planes concurrently from Lahore to Karachi, Manchester, New York and London. “Pilot sisters make history for PIA by flying Boeing 777 concurrently,” he tweeted.
He said that there was no known record of two real sisters having flown the same weight category aircraft concurrently.
Erum was recently upgraded to fly a Boeing-777, which resulted in the happy coincidence of joining her sister in the cockpit. It is good news from PIA, which has been running in losses for years and is struggling to improve its performance.
It launched a premier service on August 14 to attract customers. Pakistani women have earned honours for the country in the aviation sector in the past as well. In 2006, seven women graduated as fighter pilots in the Pakistan airforce.