News Update

Charliedelta11 · Post by **Charliedelta11** » Mon May 08, 2006 8:01 am

Yesterday my dad flew to KHI with the DFO , they talked about quite a few things but what really caught me was the fleet plan PIA has in mind .
By 2008 the 743's and 742's will be phased out , and then PIA will maintain a fleet of ATR's , 733's , A310's and 777's only .
which will bring it to about 11 777's , ( 3 772 ER's , 2 772LR's , 5 773's with maybe an order for more LR's if the chairman keeps to his word )
That had me thinking , is maintaining a fleet of this sort wise on PIA's part ? 5 years from now the A310's will have been in the airline for more than 20 years , and it will be obsolete ( can anyone help me out with the number of cycles our A310's have performed ? ) the 733's have already reached their 20 year mark .So the only new airworthy aircraft PIA will have are the ATR's and 777's .
Now , the 743's and 2's operate high pax loads like LHR , JED , MAN , ferrying 400 passengers each way , a 777 can be modified to carry 400 pax but in an all economy configuration only . ( If i'm correct , corect me if i'm wrong though )
Which means , 11 aircraft will have to be dispatched to all those routes the 743 was entitled to . With the number of flights to North America rising , and the desperate need to increase frequencies , larger aircraft will be a must .
Losing the 747 will not only affect the number of seats being offerred on international and domestic destinations , but also the amount of cargo that can be carried . The combis are after all , the icing on the cake as far as cargo is concerned .
As was discussed in a previous topic , the number of frequencies need to be increased , especially during the summer months when transatlantic travel is at its peak , pak-arab traffic is at its peak and domestic travel is in full swing . And PIA has been inept at transporting hajis during the haj season anyway! They always end up starting their operations ages before other airlines start due to aircraft shortage .
Inspite of all this , the only high pax long haul aircraft being kept is the 777 , and the A310 as med haul , which inpite of being my faourite is still old tech and a fuel guzzler .
Now , lets be practical , the 787 is out of reach of PIA , so is the A380 and the A350 , what they should look at looking at the capital they have at their disposal are second hand aircraft , maybe the 744 ? or the A330 to enhance the A310 operations ? especially around europe and the far east ? and can our A310's be converted to freighters ? or are their certain design specifications which permit freighters to be purpose built and not built by way of conversion of pax carrying aircraft ?
what are your views on this.

cheetah · Post by **cheetah** » Mon May 08, 2006 9:13 am

So the only new airworthy aircraft PIA will have are the ATR's and 777's

I wholeheartedly disagree. Age does not determine the airworthiness of an aircraft.

F.K · Post by **F.K** » Mon May 08, 2006 2:51 pm

this fleet plan is far from the truth and seems more like an impulsive fabrication then comming from the dfo who himself approved a career plan for co pilots who are being sent to the 747s for a period of 5 years endorsing the pia corporate plan which is above all, and provides for 747 till 2011. even the retirement of the combis is tentative for 2008, unless freighters either in the form of 310s or 747s are brought in. right now the 74f is being touted over the 310f as a replacement for the combis , but nothing will come to a boil atleast till another 2 years. 744s should ideally replace 743s after 5 years. they are just around 55-65000 hours , where as the design life allows for safe utilization up to 100000. the combis would have crossed over 90000 by 2008 at the time of their planned grounding ,so on no premise is the 743 retirement a rational move. the 310s are in perfect shape. what are u talking about. even the 737s with the highest cycles will fly till 2010 atleast. frequencys to nyc are capped at 5, and other transatlantic routes barely make enough for pia to even fly there.

B777240ER · Post by **B777240ER** » Mon May 08, 2006 3:20 pm

and the desperate need to increase frequencies , larger aircraft will be a must

No. More aircraft are needed. PK need to sort out the pilot situation.

maybe the 744 ? or the A330 to enhance the A310 operations ?

A330 is too large for PK's multistop routes. B744, maybe but really PK need to have smaller aircraft to increase frequency...sorry, but this is the way forward in my opinion.

and can our A310's be converted to freighters

These can compensate for the loss of cargo carried when the B747's are phased out.

Jacobin777 · Post by **Jacobin777** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:08 am

if anything, PK needs some 787-3's for their short intra-asia routes..the 787-3 would suit them fine...that, or the 787-8.............in the future I can see them ordering some 787-8's, -9's, and -10's...

R.F. · Post by **R.F.** » Wed May 10, 2006 2:36 am

Don't take these plans seriously at all. In PIA every day such plans are made and debated and then scrapped. Sorry to say the DFO will be the last one to know since all these decisions are political based rather than any commercial concerns. A good example would be the F27's that have been around for 40 odd years and were to be scrapped many years back as per the corporate planning.

The 747's will be around till 'death do us apart'.