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The
first airline from an Asian land country and the first airline from a
Muslim country to fly the Super Constellation. |
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The first Asian airline to operate a jet aircraft. |
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The
first Asian airline to be granted maintenance approval
by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the
Air Registration Board, predecessor of the British Civil
Aviation Authority (CAA). |
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The first non-communist airline to fly to the People's Republic of
China, and to operate a service between Asia and Europe via Moscow. |
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The first airline in Asia to induct the new technology Boeing 737-300
aircraft. |
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An IBM 1401, the first computer in Pakistan, was installed in PIA. |
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The first airline to introduce a second route to People's Republic of
China over the mighty Karakoram mountains. |
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The first airline to show in-flight movies on international routes. |
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PIA set up Pakistan's first planetarium at Karachi. |
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The first airline in South Asia to introduce auto-ticketing facility. |
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The first airline in the world to fly to Tashkent, capital of the newly
independent state of Uzbekistan. |
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First airline in the world to start Air Safari with jet aircraft. |
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First Asian airline to start flights to Oslo, the beautiful capital city
of Norway. |
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First
airline in the world to induct Boeing 777-200LR, the
world's longest range commercial airliner. |
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First
airline in South Asia to offer the facility of seat
reservation through mobile phone. |
Historic
Firsts Photo Gallery
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Lockheed
L-1049C Super Constellation (Abbas
Ali
Collection) |
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This
photo was taken on February 1, 1954 when Pakistan's
ambassador to the United States was invited to
officially accept the delivery of PIA's first Super
Constellation (AP-AFQ). With the delivery of AP-AFQ to
PIA, Pakistan became the first Asian land country and
the first Muslim country to fly the Super Constellation.
Six-and-a-half year old Sharon Owen - who is exactly the
same age as Pakistan, born on August 14, 1947 - acted as
honorary stewardess, helping show off the plane to the
official party. In this photo, young Sharon Owen is seen
shaking hand with Syed Amjad Ali, Pakistan's ambassador
to the United States. Looking on are Mrs. Amjad Ali,
Robert E. Gross, president of Lockheed, and Capt.
Neville Hemsworth, PIA's Super Constellation pilot |
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Boeing
707-321 (Abbas
Ali Collection) |
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PIA
became the first Asian airline to operate a jetliner
when it leased Boeing 707-321 (registration N723PA)
"Clipper Viking" from Pan American World
Airways in 1960. "Clipper Viking" was leased
out to PIA on February 09, 1960 for use from March 07,
1960 on the London service that was extended to New York
on June 16, 1961. The aircraft was returned to Pan Am on
December 12, 1962. In this photo, passengers are
seen boarding N723PA at London Heathrow Airport. When
this photo was taken, the Boeing 707 was operating PIA
flight PK-706 from London to Karachi via Rome,
Beirut and Tehran |
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Arrival
of PIA's first flight from China (Yawar
Karim
Collection) |
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PIA
was the first non-communist airline to operate flights
to the People's Republic of China. In this rare photo
from 1964 in Yawar's collection, you can see the arrival
of PIA's first flight from China at Dacca Airport, East
Pakistan. Yawar's grandfather Capt. Moinuddin Quraishi
appears on the right side of this photo. The Chinese
delegation was given warm welcome with flower
garlands as seen in the photo. PIA Boeing 720B
jetliner used for this flight appears in the background
of this photo |
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Boeing
737-340 (Copyright © Boeing) |
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AP-BCE
seen during a pre-delivery test flight in 1985. PIA
was the first Asian operator of Boeing 737 series 300
aircraft. A total of six Boeing 737-340s were delivered
to PIA between 1985 and 1986. These Boeing 737s replaced
ageing Boeing 720Bs on PIA's domestic and regional flights |
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Boeing
720-047B (Ajaz Karim
Collection) |
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Pakistan's
first planetarium was set up by PIA in Karachi. This
photo from Ajaz Karim's collection shows AP-AXM on
display at PIA Planetarium in Karachi. The retired
Boeing 720B was moved from Karachi Airport to PIA
Planetarium in Karachi on September 1, 1986 |
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Boeing
737-340 (AVM
Farooq Umar Collection) |
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Managing Director PIA Air Vice Marshal Farooq Umar
before embarking Boeing 737-300 jetliner with group of
tourists and guests on inaugural Air Safari flight to
Karakorams on August 6, 1993. PIA is the first airline
in the world to operate Air Safari flights with jet
aircraft |
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Airbus
A310-308 (Copyright © Andreas
Eriksson) |
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This
photo shows AP-BDZ landing on runway 01R of Norway's
Oslo-Gardermoen Airport on May 1, 2001. PIA became the
first Asian airline to touch down in Norway when its
Airbus A310-308 landed at Oslo's Gardermoen Airport on
May 1, 1999. PIA commenced two weekly flights on
Karachi-Oslo sector, via Lahore and Islamabad,
respectively. On the return route, the flights are
routed via Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, which was
PIA's first destination in Scandinavia two decades ago |
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Boeing 777-240LR (Copyright ©
Boeing) |
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This
photo shows AP-BGY on a pre-delivery test flight. The
delivery of AP-BGY in February 2006 made PIA the first
airline of the world to operate Boeing 777-200LR -
the world's longest range commercial airliner |
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