Pakistan International Airlines

[a300boy]

A poster on another site reports that the route has 6 months to establish itself or the whole operation will revert to Manchester. Maybe its wish full thinking on his side.

 

[whoshotjimmi]

A poster on another site reports that the route has 6 months to establish itself or the whole operation will revert to Manchester. Maybe its wish full thinking on his side.

I would be surprised if that were the case. Perhaps, the company has given the route a set time to succeed and that would be quite within their right - after all, they need it to succeed as much as anybody. But I do not believe that a stipulation would be reverting to Manchester. If Manchester had a successful operation, there is no way that PIA would downscale operation there and upgrade LBA. It doesn't make sense. Why would you move flights from a well performing route and put them on one that still requires an amount of work? It would be financial suicide.

No. I suspect the whole situation is down to MAN not performing as well as expected and LBA performing at or better than expectations. You also have to remember that the LBA catchment area has a significant Pakistani community (perhaps larger than that of the MAN immediate catchment area) and having relevant flights on the doorstep is not unreasonable.

 

[Jordan-34092]

Good news is that the asian travel agents where i work, Heaton and mannigham area of bradford, are now advertising the 777 upgrade on the LBA-ISB with some even pushing it more now, so this can only be a good thing.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

A poster on another site reports that the route has 6 months to establish itself or the whole operation will revert to Manchester. Maybe its wish full thinking on his side.

That particular poster on that particular site is frequently negative about services - especially new or enhanced ones - to the smaller regional airports.

I would have been very surprised if he/she had been brimming with optimism about LBA and PIA.

 

[White Heather]

Good news is that the asian travel agents where i work, Heaton and mannigham area of Bradford, are now advertising the 777 upgrade on the LBA-ISB with some even pushing it more now, so this can only be a good thing.

That is good news, but it needs to go further than that - perhaps they should do a bit of bus and bus stop advertising, or roadside advertising in the areas where most of the Pakistani community live. There is often talk about Bradford, but there are thousands in Leeds too, and Dewsbury, Keighley, Huddersfield, Halifax, Wakefield, not to mention over the border and places such as Burnley, Colne etc. PIA need to use this good news story to really push themselves and show they mean business - which they obviously do otherwise they wouldn't have made this move.

 

[ex_crew]

Couldn't agree more.

PIA really do need to let all the catchment areas as mentioned by White Heather that the route equipment has been upgraded.

Further to the above posts regarding the performance of the route.

Why does this route need to reprove its self?

The route has already done this.

load of cods- wallop.

 

[EX9]

Saturdays flight was fully sold in Economy and had only a few spare seats in Business.

 

[752]

didn't somebody post on the forum a couple of weeks ago that PIA cancelled one flight because it had 22 people booked on? surely that can't be right, I do remember somebody also saying it was due to fuel and bills etc

 

[48vanman]

I see todays flight arrived over 3 hours late.Having not heard it depart just checked airport website and it says"next info 23 30".

Anybody any idea what up tonight?.

 

[48vanman]

Airport website now showing flight as cancelled!.

 

[LBA787]

I see todays flight arrived over 3 hours late.Having not heard it depart just checked airport website and it says"next info 23 30".

Anybody any idea what up tonight?.

There was a serious hydraulic leak just before the push back. The aircraft may have to overnight if they cannot fix it. Roll on 13th march the 777 cannot come soon enough as PIA's A310's should be Pepsi cans by now!

:crazy:

 

[LBA787]

I will also add to my post above the flight was full with 12J 172Y. Safety first as always but its very unfortunate as these pax will undoubtedly look at other carriers next time they book a flight. This is the last thing PIA need as soon they will be needing to fill the 772...

:crazy:

 

[whoshotjimmi]

I wouldn't have thought it will be a major issue. The competition on routes from the UK to Pakistan is VERY limited.

 

[aroosh]

Can LBA handle 400+ passengers when the 777 comea in logistically? After seeing what happens to LBA with a full A310 It doesn't look very likely to me. Will
Need alot of work and some very troubled and delayed initial flights.

 

[LBA787]

I wouldn't have thought it will be a major issue. The competition on routes from the UK to Pakistan is VERY limited.

Off the top of my head you have these alternate offerings from MAN.

Air Blue
Emirates
Etihad
Qatar
Turkish

Granted air blue is the only one that offers a non stop flight but all these airlines are serious competition to PIA's entire Pakistan-UK operation I assure you!

:crazy:

 

[48vanman]

Thanks for the info LBA787.

What happens to the passengers in a situation like that?.Do PIA put them in a hotel overnight or send them home?.

 

[Aviador]

Can LBA handle 400+ passengers when the 777 comes in logistically? After seeing what happens to LBA with a full A310 It doesn't look very likely to me. Will
Need alot of work and some very troubled and delayed initial flights.

Hi aroosh, were you flying last night?

With all due respect aroosh, LBA handles upwards of 14000 passengers per day during the summer months so an extra 400+ passengers with PIA shouldn't pose a problem. If it doesn't work, it's more likely down to the workings of PIA, not the workings of the airport that is the cause the problem. That said, gate 7 that feeds air bridge 8 is becoming a bottleneck with large flights because of the layout of the terminal but I understand PIA will be using the gates on the ground floor to board the Boeing 777 when it arrives.

As you will be aware, LBA doesn't have regular large aircraft operations, the Boeing 757 is largest aircraft to operate from the airport on a regular and daily basis. The Boeing 767-300 is probably the next largest aircraft to use the airport albeit infrequently but the airport has handled them with little ado. The largest aircraft to ever use the airport on a regular basis was the Boeing 747-200 which operated weekly flights to Toronto for several years. It is widely believed that the Airbus A330-200 is probably the best aircraft currently available suited to regular long haul operations from LBA.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

I noticed passing airport this morning that aicraft was still at LBA, parked on a remote stand.

LbaYorkie

 

[aroosh]

Thanks Aviador, I did not mean to offend you with my previous statement, and you are right there are many issues with the dealings of PIA, however LBA has yet to handle 400+ of the pax that have a somewhat different nature than the 14000 they are used to daily. The main difference is that handling 14000 pax over a day at a steady trickle of a 50-100 a flight and suddenly getting 400 pax in one go. Please recall that most EU travellers also travel very light usually with just hand baggage whereas PIA pax tend to travel on the heavier side. Just stand in the arrivals at the time PIA gets in, youll see. =) Im sure LBA will manage very well but there will be some teething problems stemming from the size of the airport. As there would at any other airport that isnt used to handling such a unique (the best way i could think of to term it) operation. But they would be just that, teething problems and judging by the wonderful and helpful attitude of all the staff I met last night, they would be resolved quickly. I could give you examples, however I dont see the point of it, but just to quote you one example is the state of the parking lot at the time of arrival/departure. It takes upto 20 mins just to get out of the parking lot due to the massive exodus of people leaving at the same time. Double that for a 777. The funny thing I encountered last night was one of the guys at security check actually stopped the crew and told them that passengers had priority over crew and pax would through security first. This is the first time ive heard of such a thing in all the airports ive traveled to. Ironically, the stream of passengers was quite continuous and after 10 mins of making the crew wait, Eddie at security eventually realized why all other airports give crew priority. So he then reversed his rule and decided, that now the crew shall have priority over passengers.

At the end of the day, long haul passengers ive spoken with prefer to fly into a smaller airport like LBA, not just due to the proximity of their residence, but also due to the nature of the airport versus a larger one. I also wish to commend all the airport staff, security, passenger handling, servisair (David and Claudio)and everyone else who spent their saturday night at the airport and did a brilliant job at handling the situation last night. Excellent communication and courtesy. I have not had a better experience after having a night stop than at LBA due to the way the situation was handled by the staff. The folks at ATC are also always very kind to us an accommodating to our (unusual) request. =)

Regrettably The aircraft did go tech last night due to a hydraulic leak just short of pushback. The required part was not in the flight pack on board the aircraft and has been dispatched from KHI via MAN and has arrived, however with night curfew and the somewhat difficult (weather) working conditions, I doubt it will be repaired in time to depart tonight and will probably depart in the morning sometime. Most of the pax have been rerouted via MAN or LHR, so it should be one short takeoff tomorrow. Anyone planning on being out there taking pics?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Fascinating insight.

Many thanks, aroosh.