Paris could become PIA's hub in EU

[Karachi Aviator]

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has started preparations to finalize a plan for the restoration of flight operations to Europe, anticipating the ban to be removed by EASA next month, ARY News reported.

The national flag carrier has decided to make Paris as hub for Europe flights, say sources.

Meanwhile, a delegation led by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Director General Khaqan Murtaza will attend a of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) scheduled for May to review the revival of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight operations in Europe.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/arynews.tv ... ation/amp/

[nopy99]

Personally i feel Barcelona, Rome or Milan should also be considered as could be better option than Paris for EU hub. PIA is in survival mode so they should restart to a low cost hub first, rather than chose a high cost city such as Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London

There are plenty of connections from Spain/Italy and cost of basing there will be more cost effective.

For UK, base at Stanstead & MAN rather than LHR or LGW. majority of PIA traffic for UK will be point to point UK-PK diaspora so loss of connecting opportunity in LHR will not have major impact on loads IMHO.

[Karachi Aviator]

Personally i feel Barcelona, Rome or Milan should also be considered as could be better option than Paris for EU hub. PIA is in survival mode so they should restart to a low cost hub first, rather than chose a high cost city such as Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or London

There are plenty of connections from Spain/Italy and cost of basing there will be more cost effective.

I think it depends on the availability of slots. Maybe PIA has more slots at Paris as compared to other airports in EU. Also, PIA already had an interline agreement with Air France for connections to some EU and US cities. If PIA is able to revive that and expand it a bit than it probably doesn't even need to codeshare with another airline considering how big Air France's network is.

Also, Barcelona and Milan aren't a major hub for any airline. Madrid is the main hub for Iberia and Air Europa in Spain whereas Rome is the main hub for ITA Airways in Italy. ITA's network to US is decent but their connections to Scandinavia and some other European pockets are quite limited.

[baberblues]

What was wrong with Turkish? That would have been a better option as Turkish airlines provide far better connecting opportunities.

[Amaad Lone]

Any new fleet addition will be done after the airline is privatized.

Considering PIA has three major hubs (Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad) I feel a smaller aircraft with a long range will serve PIA well.

For UK flights the ideal aircraft is the A330-900 while for Europe PIA might consider A321-LR that can also fly to the Far East.

For North America maybe use the 777 fleet until its grounded and then the A350.

[Karachi Aviator]

An interesting story: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tbsnew ... 6556%3famp

Biman Air of Bangladesh recently started 3x weekly flights between Dhaka and Rome and will soon be working with an Italian airline for interlined operations to offer connections to other EU stations.

They have a decent fleet of boeing 787s