PIA to provide travel facilities for int’l teams participating in ICC Champions Trophy, 2025

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the national flag carrier, will provide travel facilities for the international teams participating in the International Cricket Committee (ICC) Champions Trophy being held in Pakistan.

In collaboration with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), PIA has made special arrangements for the teams’ domestic travel within the country, said PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan in a statement on Monday.

“PIA will operate special chartered flights for the domestic transportation of cricket teams during the Champions Trophy,” he said.

During the flights, special efforts will be made to introduce the guest teams to Pakistani culture, according to the PIA spokesperson.

Pakistan will host its first major multi-country cricket tournament in nearly three decades, scheduled to begin on Wednesday, February 19. The PCB is hopeful that a successful Champions Trophy will bring a flood of other such events.

The tournament featuring the top eight teams in the ODI format was discontinued by the International Cricket Committee (ICC) after the eighth edition in 2017 when Sarfaraz Ahmed’s Pakistan beat India in the final.

Pakistan are therefore holders as well as hosts as they stage the first global tournament since the 1996 World Cup, even if political tensions mean India will play all their matches, including the March 9 final should they make it, in Dubai.

To prepare for the multinational tournament, the PCB has upgraded two main grounds in Karachi and Lahore for the event in an 11th-hour facelift.