PIA Planning to Operate 19 Weekly Flights to European Destinations

[Abbas Ali]

PTV News

PIA is planning to operate 19 weekly flights to destinations in various countries of Europe, informed Aviation Minister Khawaja Asif.

Abbas

[Karachi Aviator]

Aviation minister also informed that 4-5 aircrafts that are parked will be bought back to operations as PIA is acquiring engines and PIA has also arranged an agreement with KLM which covers destinations in the US and Canada(similar to the Interline with AF).

Probably indicates that PIA plans to operate flights to Amsterdam.

[b78709]

Aviation minister also informed that 4-5 aircrafts that are parked will be bought back to operations as PIA is acquiring engines and PIA has also arranged an agreement with KLM which covers destinations in the US and Canada(similar to the Interline with AF).

Probably indicates that PIA plans to operate flights to Amsterdam.

AF and KLM is one company with two Airline brands. Nationalism in France/Netherlands is the reason for still operating the airline under two different names.

[Karachi Aviator]

Aviation minister also informed that 4-5 aircrafts that are parked will be bought back to operations as PIA is acquiring engines and PIA has also arranged an agreement with KLM which covers destinations in the US and Canada(similar to the Interline with AF).

Probably indicates that PIA plans to operate flights to Amsterdam.

AF and KLM is one company with two Airline brands. Nationalism in France/Netherlands is the reason for still operating the airline under two different names.

Aviation minister mentioned KLM separately for US & Canadian destinations whereas the interline with AF largely consists of European destinations.

Maybe PIA is trying to replicate what it tried to do with TK.

[ThrustVector998]

Which Destinations can we expect in the near future? And more importantly how will they manage with current fleet of 6 B777s

[faisal-777]

Aviation minister also informed that 4-5 aircrafts that are parked will be bought back to operations as PIA is acquiring engines and PIA has also arranged an agreement with KLM which covers destinations in the US and Canada(similar to the Interline with AF).

Probably indicates that PIA plans to operate flights to Amsterdam.

AF and KLM is one company with two Airline brands. Nationalism in France/Netherlands is the reason for still operating the airline under two different names.

Aviation minister mentioned KLM separately for US & Canadian destinations whereas the interline with AF largely consists of European destinations.

Maybe PIA is trying to replicate what it tried to do with TK.

Instead of AF, they should explore the possibility with Lufthansa who are geographically a better option. Why should someone fly all the way to the end of continent first and then fly in opposite direction backwards. Start Frankfurt and offer connections to Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia etc instead of going with AF via CDG.

[Amaad Lone]

19 weekly European flights, that is more than PIA has operated in a really long time.

Before the ban there were:

2 to Copenhagen-Oslo
2 to Milan-Barcelona
2 to Paris

Before that:

2-3 to Amsterdam-Frankfurt

I have a feeling they are counting the UK flights also, maybe 6 to Europe and 13 to United Kingdom including London, and Manchester.

[planefan2003]

19 weekly European flights, that is more than PIA has operated in a really long time.

Before the ban there were:

2 to Copenhagen-Oslo
2 to Milan-Barcelona
2 to Paris

Before that:

2-3 to Amsterdam-Frankfurt

I have a feeling they are counting the UK flights also, maybe 6 to Europe and 13 to United Kingdom including London, and Manchester.

Of course they are including UK flights as the UK is in Europe

[Usman123]

2 weekly each to Frankfurt, Barcelona, Milan can be a really good option other than Paris if 777s are back

Especially Frankfurt and Milan overseas Pakistani population (students mostly) has grown exponentially in Germany and Italy in the past 4.5 years when PIA was absent from the market.

Don't think Old "babas" in management will recognize this!

Offering 15-20% discount for student will explode PIAs load factor on these route and also bring down ticket prices of rival airlines!

Also why is karachi flights ignored always atleast 2 weekly should be offered they have completely ignored South of the country! No flight from the whole Sindh/Balochistan region where karachi is the major hub

[planefan2003]

I think PIA has severly underestimated the demand for direct flights to/from Europe. Since the Covid lockdown the pakistani population in UK and the rest of Europe has increased significantly and they i’m sure they would all appreciate a direct flight to Pakistan. They need to launch multiple stations with increased frequencies ASAP. But with the amount of grounded 777s it’s not looking good for PIA at the moment

[behramjee]

Hello...its been years since I've come back to this forum as I was getting bored at office so decided to check out some latest PIA news.

FYI I have all the EU-PAK market data since 2016.

Europe is not at all a big market for PAK. The largest market is indeed CDG-ISB with 52,000 annual pax round trip followed closely MXP-LHE.

Remember PIA made heavy losses every year since 2004 flying to EU cities and nothing will change going forward in terms of net losses when the frequency is only two weekly with aging aircraft that have no IFE working + focus still being p2p traffic. BHX too lost a lot of money for PIA but MAN + LHR did ok due to higher yields and loads + belly cargo.

Even Air India switched to a hub and spoke business model since 2015 when it realized the untapped potential of Delhi's geographical term right in between Europe and SE Asia.

The last time I flew PIA long haul was in Dec 2008 YYZ-KHI (IFE worked) and the flight was quite comfortable.

[faisal-777]

Hello...its been years since I've come back to this forum as I was getting bored at office so decided to check out some latest PIA news.

FYI I have all the EU-PAK market data since 2016.

Europe is not at all a big market for PAK. The largest market is indeed CDG-ISB with 52,000 annual pax round trip followed closely MXP-LHE.

Remember PIA made heavy losses every year since 2004 flying to EU cities and nothing will change going forward in terms of net losses when the frequency is only two weekly with aging aircraft that have no IFE working + focus still being p2p traffic. BHX too lost a lot of money for PIA but MAN + LHR did ok due to higher yields and loads + belly cargo.

Even Air India switched to a hub and spoke business model since 2015 when it realized the untapped potential of Delhi's geographical term right in between Europe and SE Asia.

The last time I flew PIA long haul was in Dec 2008 YYZ-KHI (IFE worked) and the flight was quite comfortable.

So that means PIA should then go the abandoned path - codesharing with TK except direct to CDG, MXP - no other destination makes a good business case for direct flights.

[behramjee]

Hello...its been years since I've come back to this forum as I was getting bored at office so decided to check out some latest PIA news.

FYI I have all the EU-PAK market data since 2016.

Europe is not at all a big market for PAK. The largest market is indeed CDG-ISB with 52,000 annual pax round trip followed closely MXP-LHE.

Remember PIA made heavy losses every year since 2004 flying to EU cities and nothing will change going forward in terms of net losses when the frequency is only two weekly with aging aircraft that have no IFE working + focus still being p2p traffic. BHX too lost a lot of money for PIA but MAN + LHR did ok due to higher yields and loads + belly cargo.

Even Air India switched to a hub and spoke business model since 2015 when it realized the untapped potential of Delhi's geographical term right in between Europe and SE Asia.

The last time I flew PIA long haul was in Dec 2008 YYZ-KHI (IFE worked) and the flight was quite comfortable.

So that means PIA should then go the abandoned path - codesharing with TK except direct to CDG, MXP - no other destination makes a good business case for direct flights.

There is no viable commercial business case to fly to any mainland EU city at all to be very honest !

CDG is the least loss making option.

[faisal-777]

Hello...its been years since I've come back to this forum as I was getting bored at office so decided to check out some latest PIA news.

FYI I have all the EU-PAK market data since 2016.

Europe is not at all a big market for PAK. The largest market is indeed CDG-ISB with 52,000 annual pax round trip followed closely MXP-LHE.

Remember PIA made heavy losses every year since 2004 flying to EU cities and nothing will change going forward in terms of net losses when the frequency is only two weekly with aging aircraft that have no IFE working + focus still being p2p traffic. BHX too lost a lot of money for PIA but MAN + LHR did ok due to higher yields and loads + belly cargo.

Even Air India switched to a hub and spoke business model since 2015 when it realized the untapped potential of Delhi's geographical term right in between Europe and SE Asia.

The last time I flew PIA long haul was in Dec 2008 YYZ-KHI (IFE worked) and the flight was quite comfortable.

So that means PIA should then go the abandoned path - codesharing with TK except direct to CDG, MXP - no other destination makes a good business case for direct flights.

There is no viable commercial business case to fly to any mainland EU city at all to be very honest !

CDG is the least loss making option.

I do think there could be more candidates, but those would also be probably max 2x per week.

Barcelona
Frankfurt

[Amaad Lone]

Hello...its been years since I've come back to this forum as I was getting bored at office so decided to check out some latest PIA news.

Welcome back.

Its a vicious circle. the poor service reduces frequency and that increases losses and PIA has large fixed cost. Lower frequency further moves passengers away from PIA.

That is why I have been a firmly believe that PIA should get 200 seater to operate to Europe.

the only fuel efficient option is the A321-LR.

Same layout as TAP with 171 seats, that should be feasible for most cities. Four flights to each city two from Lahore and two from Islamabad.
that might work.