PIA Starting Flights for Istanbul in November With Turkish Airlines Connecting Flights to Europe, UK and USA

[Abbas Ali]

PIA starting flights for Istanbul from the month of November.

Islamabad-Istanbul
Four weekly Islamabad to Istanbul flights starting from November 14.

Route: Islamabad to Istanbul
Flight Number: PK705
Day of Operation: Monday, Thursday
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777
Departure from Islamabad: 9:00 AM
Arrival in Istanbul: 1:30 PM
Flight Duration: 6 hours & 30 minutes



Route: Islamabad to Istanbul
Flight Number: PK705
Day of Operation: Wednesday
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777
Departure from Islamabad: 8:45 AM
Arrival in Istanbul: 1:15 PM
Flight Duration: 6 hours & 30 minutes



Route: Islamabad to Istanbul
Flight Number: PK705
Day of Operation: Sunday
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777
Departure from Islamabad: 8:55 AM
Arrival in Istanbul: 1:25 PM
Flight Duration: 6 hours & 30 minutes



Lahore-Istanbul
Two weekly Lahore to Istanbul flights starting from November 15.

Route: Lahore to Istanbul
Flight Number: PK707
Day of Operation: Tuesday, Friday
Aircraft Type: Boeing 777
Departure from Lahore: 9:00 AM
Arrival in Istanbul: 1:30 PM
Flight Duration: 6 hours & 30 minutes



Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

From Istanbul, PIA passengers traveling to UK/Europe will be transported by Turkish Airlines.

Special counters will be established at Istanbul Airport to facilitate PIA passengers traveling to UK/Europe.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

From November 14, PIA starting 6 weekly flights to Istanbul - 4 from Islamabad and 2 from Lahore.

Through codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines, PIA passengers will be able to travel to over 28 destinations in Europe, UK and USA.

In the second stage PIA Karachi to Istanbul flights will be started.



Abbas

[Usman123]

Now thats a great deal in exchange for LHR slots Special counters and connections to all over the world

Should increase frequency in the future to Istanbul wish this plan doesn't get scrapped like Aus flights

[ammad]

It is a first good step but it have to be done for Karachi as well, and 2X from LHE is pretty less too.

It have to be 7X weekly, each from KHI, ISB, and LHE, PIA will continue to be in loss until PIA find a way how to take back at least 30-40% international passengers base of Karachi station.

[Amaad Lone]

Six flights to Istanbul connecting to Europe, UK and USA.

Only being done by Turkish because PIA is leasing them very precious slots at Heathrow, and Turkish could make a lot of money during the foot ball world cup at Qatar.

Who will fly to Istanbul twice a week on PIA when they can fly daily on Turkish.

PIA should have done this two years ago and connected to Turkish not just six times a week but 21 times a week, using A321s daily flights from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

[Usman123]

I think AP-BID will be ready till nov for these flights

[baberblues]

I hope that the times of arrival and departure to and from Istanbul allow connections to transport passengers with ease and all over the world with TK. this is a small step, PIA can go further and add more destinations, code share and use whatever leverage it has to maximise its full potential.

I do wonder, what if that deal between PK and TK had gone through all those years ago. Would PK have been in Star Alliance and in an better shape than it is right now? Who knows.

None the less, PIA needs to really pick up the slack, it is such a sad state of affairs that these things were not thought of during the progression of the pandemic (obviously factors were at play and I acknowledge this).

[inducedrag]

Why no flight from Karachi

[Abbas Ali]

PIA intends to hire the services of well reputed ground handling companies for the ground handling of its flights at Istanbul Airport (IST), Turkiye.

Bidders advised to also provide rates for following additional services:

1. Business Class Lounge Charges per passenger
2. ASU (Air Starter)
3. ACU (Cooling Unit)
4. GPU
5. Heater
6. Additional Push Back
7. Additional manpower
8. Towing
9. Protocol Services for airline’s VVIP Passengers
10. Baggage Delivery Services

Abbas

[Badar42]

A good start but timing could've been better .with these timing you can only connect to one Turkish flight in UK and that's Heathrow.All others flight leave arround the time PIA lands. Maybe they are aiming at North American flights but UK bound pax are high in numbers and they'll continue flying Turkish rather than Pia.

[adamalikhan]

This probably explains why there are currently no charter flights for UK to Islamabad and vice versa showing from mid-Nov. No flights seem to be available to book at the moment either.

[baberblues]

I know that PIA codeshare on Turkish services from the UK to PAK at the moment.

I really feel sorry for Karachi. PIA has completely neglected the market.

PIA needs to aggressively start flights daily to Turkey on B777 aircraft from all 3 cities and build up from there

[arshad.altaf]

The Pakistani ex-pat community and the Pakistani traveler at large should be thankful for these foreign careers that help them travel home and back to the country of their work. The lack of consistency in PIA destinations, still following the age-old style of once or twice-a-week flights, is entirely unhelpful.

We can only hope/dream of better days for PIA.

Arshad

[inducedrag]

In 2011 an agreement with Turkish Airlines was in progress when all PIA unions went on strike