PIA to Retire Boeing 747 after Hajj 2014

[Abdullah]

As per following link, landing rights duration for PIA B747 ended to land in Saudi Arabia. Whats about this?

http://daily.urdupoint.com/livenews/201 ... 46943.html

[Abbas Ali]

^ Probably Saudis unhappy over technical problems experienced by AP-BFY during Hajj flight operations this year.

Btw, AP-BFY today performed Karachi to Lahore flight PK-302.

http://libhomeradar.org/databasequery/r ... 0&limit=30

Abbas

[bigfish]

Unless they can source some 747-800 aircrafts, 743's are too old and not economical anymore.

Same thing with 737-300's, too old, not worth it. Better get on and get some 737-600's or 737-800's so that they're newer and more economical.

[747-300]

^ Probably Saudis unhappy over technical problems experienced by AP-BFY during Hajj flight operations this year.

Btw, AP-BFY today performed Karachi to Lahore flight PK-302.

http://libhomeradar.org/databasequery/r ... 0&limit=30

Abbas

I travelled on Foxtrot Yankee from Karachi to Lahore on PK - 302
It was just my luck because the plane was 777 but because of over booking BFY saved the day and aswell PIA had to arrange another extra flight to Lahore PK-3022. Yes the aircraft is in bad shape the plane ailerons had rust on it's end but the flight went well . I will give trip photos to Abbas bhai as soon i get back to Karachi on PK-303 or Pk 305 tommorow I also made takeoff and landing videos

[Abbas Ali]

^ Looking forward to seeing photos

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

On December 29, AP-BFY performed Karachi to Jeddah flight PK-731.

And, today AP-BFY performed Karachi to Jeddah flight PK-7027.

http://libhomeradar.org/databasequery/r ... 0&limit=30

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

On following link are December 29 PIA Karachi to Lahore flight PK-302 photos shared by forum member 747-300.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22890

Abbas

[Abdullah]

About 02:00PM, AP-BFY seen taking-off from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi.

(Sorry for bad image quality.)

[Amaad Lone]

tons of 747-400s in storage around the world

Why doesn't PIA dry lease some of them for a couple of years until they can afford better equipment.

The 747-400 will solve PIA heavy long haul, and heavy medium haul flights.

I wonder what is the logic to avoid adding cheap dry lease capacity to PIA, instead they wet lease expensive aircraft???

[ammad]

Instead of looking around for old metal, PIA should be focussing on getting/generating enough revenue and financial setup to get delivery of already promised five B777-340 ER.

These 5 777 er will be filling gap generated by aging B747, and in my opinion will bring more reliability in fleet.

[Shahab]

With the falling fuel prices which are predicted to stay low for a while, does it not make economic sense to get some more life out of these planes?

[ammad]

That is correct that falling fuel prices will help to keep BFY flying for couple of extra month, but actual focus should be on procuring 5 B777 - 340 ER. BFY certainly can serve as back up plane as long as it is AirWorthy.

[747-300]

I especially went for spotting today for BFY which is coming from Jeddah and after sometime i got to know that this flight is delayed by 10HRS and will arrive at Karachi at 1:00am

[bigfish]

Seems the jumbo's are frequently delayed in Saudi Arabia (to and from).

What is the real, behind-the-scenes cause for this ???

Can any PIA-related people please kindly explain whether this is aircraft-related or something else?
Would a B777 also be delayed 10 hours for Saudi destinations?

[Abbas Ali]

Recent photo of PIA Boeing 747-367 registration AP-BFY on short finals to Jinnah International Air Port (JIAP) - Karachi - Photo by Abdus Sattar Sohail.

Abbas