PIA Boeing 777 Cabin Upgrade Program

[Adnan Anwar]

Looks like this system is without add-on remote, having seen on so many airlines how kids treat the wired remote hence damaging the seat unit.

Other than PIA , it happened to me twice on Etihad where my headphone sound was not working and other time, the wire of the remote was ripped out of the seat for IFE. When you have full plane and 14 hour ordeal to deal with it and crew tells no seats are available on either Economy and Business, it can be very annoying.

I hope this system will offer PIA more longevity than previous which was not maintained as it should have been.

[uzairali]

Can someone tell me, why doesn't PIA just add Wifi to its aircraft and offer free 500mb/1gb etc?

Nowadays everyone has their smartphones or tablets and these people will be much more happy to use their devices than screen. Also not everyone uses their screen, especially night flights.

PIA can save money by reducing the weight of the aircraft, not paying loyalties fees for the media, ,investment cost, maintenance cost,running cost (energy being used), leg space and much more.

I am sure people will be more wow by free wifi than IFE nowadays in advertisements. And those that still need IFE, well, PIA can rent out tablets for some money. 50 used tablets are much better (+revenue from it) than 300 IFE running when half are not used on average. And PIA can instead offer the savings by not having IFE to lowering ticket prices. This way those that are die hard IFE fans can go ME3 and those that want cheap tickets and don't need IFE as much can buy cheaper tickets, so we have two markets.

IFEs are a thing of the past, when wifi wasn't easily available and smartphones/tablets did not exists or were not cheap enough. And maybe for flights to JFK/Toronto it makes sense, but for 6 hour flights, I think people can survive without IFE at the cost of cheaper ticket. Who is going to watch movies during red eye flight and sleep during the day upon arrival?

[CoyBoy]

How about CozySuite, gives a bit of privacy too.

http://www.thompsonaero.com/cozysuite

Can go 10 abreast on 777 fleet.

[Abbas Ali]

Bids submission date extended to November 14, 2016.

Source: PIA

Abbas

[uzairali]

How about CozySuite, gives a bit of privacy too.

http://www.thompsonaero.com/cozysuite

Can go 10 abreast on 777 fleet.

Sure 10 abreast, but judging by the width, it seems there will be less rows of seats.



I really hope PIA gets 10 abreast seats for their planes and lower the airfare to better compete with ME airlines who already have 10 abreast. It is an extreme shame for PIA that it offers 9 abreast and does not advertise it.

PIA economy plus should have been 9 abreast with little more leg room and recline.

[CoyBoy]

An airline like Cathay Pacific is also going 10 abreast.

[uzkt01]

No wonder they are losing money. Most of the Pakistani travelers are price sensitive. Nobody cares if you provide a wider seat.

[uzairali]

No wonder they are losing money. Most of the Pakistani travelers are price sensitive. Nobody cares if you provide a wider seat.

Indeed. Also in the west, the airlines often "oversell" the flight. They fit 450 passengers and sell 475 tickets for example. They know people cancel it the day before flight, unable to make it to flight or simply cancel their fully refundable tickets. This way, the airplane always fly full and in worse case, they put on next flight of their airline or another airline. The person volunteer their seat and compensation is hotel or upgrade their seat to business etc. Also in west they advertise their seat width/pitch if it's good, but PIA doesn't seem to do anything about it. Seat guru does not tell whats pitch and width. I don't even know what good is PIA economy plus! But in Canada, economy plus product usually sell out, 8 abreast with more pitch and recline.

Now imagine PIA putting less passengers on its plane AND not overselling the flight. The point is, the more seats you have, the more chances of people cancelling ticket and more chances of getting away with full flight.

Also PIA does not need IFE system. Just go for slim seats and instead of paying for IFE system maintenance, movie costs, fuel cost, initial cost etc, just make ticket cheaper. The people who want IFE system can go on ME airlines. Wifi would be enough. Also often time during night flight no one uses IFE anyway.

In Pakistan, people are very sensitive to price of airline because in Canada, difference is $50 for for Pakistan it is 5000 rupees. It's just the way of thought. And also in Pakistan 5000 rupees can do a lot (hiring maid for a month) vs $50 in west. So they value their 5000 rupees more than $50 here.

[Adnan Anwar]

Flight are sold based on projection , there are models to forecast and aircraft seats are sold based on a projection. It is not done to every flight.

[Sherry3002]

^ Disagree with the idea about IFE, you'd lose many passengers with no IFE. Why not add IFE and gain the extra pax? No harm done, the pax would make up for the IFE's extra weight.

[uzairali]

^ Disagree with the idea about IFE, you'd lose many passengers with no IFE. Why not add IFE and gain the extra pax? No harm done, the pax would make up for the IFE's extra weight.

I've been told that people fly PIA for cheap tickets and weight allowance. But when they want IFE, they fly emirates etc. PIA has bad name with IFE now because people likely think IFE won't be working.

I also said that drop IFE and add wifi instead, as many people have tablets and phone nowadays. And having variety is a good thing, shaheen already flys without IFE. People who want to save money can fly without IFE.

Also many elderly do not know how to operate IFE and their kids often send them on direct flights instead of connection. Hence they would use PIA for them.

PIA can also rent out ipads for those that forgot or don't have tablet/smartphone.

[Sherry3002]

That's a slightly better idea, yes.
However there are some pax who fly PIA for convenience of connection, not cash, and it would just be an added bonus to have IFE. However, the iPad idea isn't that bad either, it would work well.

As for over booking, I just realised I've been through it on PIA. This August on my return from London, when I arrived at the counter to check in I was requested to give up my seat in Business to another passenger who was on the overbooked list, and I'd be provided with a free stay at some hotel and am upgrade on my next flight if I ever flew economy. Although I declined, there was quite a commotion at the PIA desk as overbooked pax were angry that they couldn't get a seat, so I'm pretty sure in peak seasons PIA does overbook flights.

[uzkt01]

Well no-IFE is fine for flights for upto 5/6 hours. Like to KUL,JED,BKK,but beyond that for flights to Europe and beyond, passengers wouldn't be very happy without IFE. Perhaps PIA should configure atleast 2 of its 772s optimized for regional flights(like without IFE, only wifi, 10 abreast seats etc). This will reduce costs and increase capacity hence increasing revenue.

[Abdulrafeysiddiqui]

And a USB port or Charging socket for electronic devices

[Abbas Ali]

Following bidders qualified:

Geven (geven.com)
Avio Interiors (aviointeriors.it)
Acro (acro.aero)
FutureFlite (futureflite.com)
FL Technics (fltechnics.com)
MISL
Optimeres

Info Source: PIA

Abbas