PIA to Give London Heathrow Landing Slots on Temporary Basis to Turkish Airlines and Kuwait Airways

[Abbas Ali]

PIA to give its London Heathrow landing slots on temporary basis for six months to Turkish Airlines and Kuwait Airways.

6 PIA London Heathrow landing slots to Turkish Airlines for six months.
1 PIA London Heathrow landing slot to Kuwait Airways for six month.

This step has been taken to protect PIA landing slots at London Heathrow Airport and to avoid cancellation of these landing slots by London Heathrow Airport.

Info source: https://urdu.arynews.tv/pia-7-london-landing-slots/

Since July 2020, due to EASA/UK CAA restrictions PIA is unable to operate flights between UK and Pakistan with airline's own aircraft.

Abbas

[baberblues]

I had seen in press reports that the ACL slot committee had applied for PIA slots cancellation. It however does not make sense to me why PIA did not back in 2020 just lease the slots to the most highest bidder as this would've generated a substantial amount of income for the airlines.

Airlines are itching for slots at london Heathrow and would have paid top dollars for them

[Abbas Ali]

PIA London Heathrow Airport landings slots are being given to other airlines for six months under "Babysitting" concept, according to airline's spokesperson.

These slots will return to PIA when PIA is allowed to start flights to London Heathrow Airport.

Abbas

[dragonfly]

Looks like PIA not returning Anytime soon.... Mid 2023...wishful thinking.

[ammad]

I remember PIA have 10 slots to LHR, any body knows about the fate of the other three slots. These slots are pretty precious as PIA get hold of it since 1950's, I guess. Abbas may chime in.

[Hassan777]

I remember PIA have 10 slots to LHR, any body knows about the fate of the other three slots. These slots are pretty precious as PIA get hold of it since 1950's, I guess. Abbas may chime in.

Maybe PIA will utilize them for their own ongoing charter operations?

[Vaqar Khan]

I had seen in press reports that the ACL slot committee had applied for PIA slots cancellation. It however does not make sense to me why PIA did not back in 2020 just lease the slots to the most highest bidder as this would've generated a substantial amount of income for the airlines.

Airlines are itching for slots at london Heathrow and would have paid top dollars for them

Back in 2020 there was the small matter of lockdowns due to COVID-19. Most terminals at LHR were mothballed, one runway closed and only a few dozen flights a day (a lot of them cargo only) operating. I don't think there would have been any bidders then or even in the first half of 2021.

[Usman123]

In the past these slots couldn't be auctioned but next 6 months there will definitely be intense traffic in regards to to world cup in Qatar so slots prices could jump really high

[Abbas Ali]

Slot trade records show PIA has leased seven slot pairs (allowing daily operations) to Turkish Airlines starting on November 13, 2022, and another pair for Saturday flights to Kuwait Airways starting on November 5. Turkish Airlines will use the additional slots for daily services from Istanbul new using Airbus A321neo, while Kuwait Airways plans to operate an additional rotation from Kuwait using a Boeing 777-300ER.

The leases have been signed through March 25, 2023.

PIA held a total of ten slot pairs per week at Heathrow for the Winter 2022/23 season, including five for services from Islamabad, two each for services from Lahore and Karachi, and one for flights from Sialkot.

Info source: https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... hrow-slots

[Abbas Ali]

Today, Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique at a press briefing held at Lahore Airport informed:

PIA London Heathrow Airport slots were going to be seized this month under British rules/policy. PIA would have faced difficulty in getting again these slots worth billions of GBP.

To secure these slots, PIA has leased them to Turkish Airlines, Kuwait Airways and Saudia.

Slots to Turkish Airlines have been given for two seasons (Winter & Summer).

Slots to Kuwait Airways and Saudia have been given for one season (Winter).

Abbas

[Karachi Aviator]

Apparently PIA has leased out its Heathrow slots for 2023 summer season as well:

https://simpleflying.com/pakistan-inter ... row-slots/

[Usman123]

Anyone at the airline remembers to retake these slots back from these airlines?
Did PIA earn any revenue from these slot lease?

Or will PIA end up in court with TK & Kuwait or wasting time to resume UK flight Ops.

Is there any website to check LHR landing slot allocation?

[nopy99]

Slot exchange tracking is on the below link.

Seems 1 X daily PIA slot is leased to SV until 28th March 2025. You can see the details on the below link.

https://www.acl-uk.org/completed-slot-t ... 20Airlines

It may be better for PIA to restart to Gatwick instead of Heathrow

[London Flyer]

I don’t think PIA needs to rush into this. Reactivating aircraft takes time and it’s better for bookings to be open for longer ahead of the services starting. It would make sense to wait for the expiration of the agreement in a matter of weeks and then restart. As long as PIA knows how they will be deploying aircraft and the timeline of reactivation, they could go ahead and open bookings though.

[nopy99]

PIA would want to avail passenger loads for summer family holidays and Eid al adha as well. My prediction si they would wan tot be up and running by Late May or early June by the latest