Pakistan International Airlines

[Aviador]

The only other thing I can think of is they are making changes to the timings and or aircraft type but they have made a mistake when editing the booking system. It's very unprofessional whatever has happened and as I think White Heather has already said, it's potential lost bookings if people are going onto the PIA website and dates between June 11 and November are not on sale. There will be a lot of people asking questions come Wednesday's flight so I would have though we'll know what's going on by then.

 

[jason1-11]

This mystery should be on the X Files.

Joking apart, Pakistan is a country with many problem, both social and economic with no short term improvement forecasted.

The only plus point is we all know there is a demand there and also PIA have stated the route is / was profitable so I'm hoping for a suspension or hopefully just a computer glitch.

 

[tleeds]

Well If Airline Officials have already announced it in Pakistan then I think that its the end until the Airport Directors offically announce it here in Leeds. I'm surprised that it has an operational load factor of 82.5% and yet they say it's 'not-profitable'.
I think that its a cheap way to pull out personally but with PIA at MAN as well, could we see AirBlue moving from MAN to LBA to make it profitable?
Like they say Manchester is only 50mins away from Leeds if they want a possible cheaper fare with AirBlue?

 

[Aviador]

I think it is safe to say that Pakistan International Airlines is definitely quitting Leeds Bradford airport unless there's an eleventh hour reprieve.

The route has enjoyed much higher loads than it is at present. At one stage it was operating at around 98% load factor. There will be a number of factors effecting the downward trend.

Economic
PIA have been struggling for some time and they have been trying to restructure the airline to make it more profitable. If the catchment area demands more flights it will make it cheaper to operate into just one airport in the North of England. I think if Leeds Bradford airport had a longer runway then LBA would probably have kept the flight and the Manchester flights would have been dropped. Unfortunately as we all know, the Boeing 777-300 cannot operate into LBA with a full load. The slightly smaller Boeing 777-200 could but the airline only operates two of this variant.

Political
Over recent weeks we have seen numerous events taking place in Pakistan which have made the country potentially more vulnerable and politically unstable than it was previously. Many people will agree that Bin Laden had to go, but this has left the country more unstable from al qaeda factions within the country. The threat of being attacked or bombed is very real. It will inevitably put people off from travelling to Pakistan.

Weather
I am told it is extremely hot out there at the moment and this can have a negative effect on passenger loads.

 

[Bigman]

So, what chance of Air Blue giving it a bash with an A319 or A320 I wonder?

 

[tleeds]

They do also have an A321, but it's likely that won't be used. I think airport directors will try and re-establish the route and I'm also certian this will be brought up at the next airport meeting.

 

[a300boy]

I am sure the recent problems with late night departure has also played a part, with on easy fix available.

 

[White Heather]

But there hasn't been any problems with late departures recently, and even Leeds Council appear to have backed off over the issue. LBA has supported PIA and taken the flak from the council, risking legal action in the process. If PIA were going to leave over that issue, they would have done so ages ago when LBA were having words about it almost every month. To me, this is a clear case of axing LBA to concentrate on MAN, using the 777. The announcement made is a reversion to their previous policy of making passengers go to MAN. I still believe that they only came to LBA as they had seen the huge potential and had their profits cut by the success of Shaheen, and as soon as there is a small reduction in passengers, they have dropped the axe. They may try to make excuses about late departures, but that doesn't really hold water. It may also be the case that they want to start another route using the A310 and don't have the aircraft, so have dropped LBA. Hopefully, LBA will make an announcement soon when they have had their meeting with the airline.

Lets hope that as per that article, AirBlue come in - but does the A320 have the range to fly to ISB non stop (over 3000 miles?). I guess it must do if they operate the route from MAN?

 

[rmac]

I see that Air Blue serve Dubai, so a 3 or 4 times per week LBA - Dubai - ISB might be of interest to a wider range of potential travellers, even one of the services to Lahore via Dubai. The A320 has less seating so to carry the same number of passengers per week more services would be required.

 

[eastcoaster]

I believe the Air Blue flights from MAN all route to Islamabad with a tech stop in Turkey as the A321 is unable to make it in one go, even from MAN long runway.

 

[wawkrk]

And PIA issued this statement in January ------

"PIA closes its twice weekly Glasgow-Lahore route on January 22 following an appraisal of its loss-making operations in Europe which could see it pull out completely from some countries. PIA’s decision to axe Glasgow is linked with competition from Emirates, which operates daily from Glasgow to Dubai with onward connections to Pakistan.

Speaking from PIA’s base in Karachi, spokesman Mamoon Rashid said flights from Pakistan to Heathrow, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds/Bradford were profitable and could be expanded. PIA will also continue with its Manchester-New York route."

 

[empire]

I believe the Air Blue flights from MAN all route to Islamabad with a tech stop in Turkey as the A321 is unable to make it in one go, even from MAN long runway.

AirBlue use A319's on it's Manchester operations to ISB via Turkey of which it has a fleet of 4. Their fleet also consists of 1 A320 used primarily on Middle Eastern routes, and 1 A321 currently in storage.

 

[tleeds]

good to see you back xboy999, not heard from you in a while.

I wonder if the A321 is being stored for financial reasons. If not and they wanted to operate it they could put it on the LBA route. It makes sense if the load factor on the A310 was 82.5% if I recall correctly so might nicely fill the A321.

 

[Jordan-34092]

what other airline do you all think is more likely to take on the route if air blue doesn't?

 

[Aviador]

So with all this in mind is there anyone here good at stats and work out what sort of effect year on year it will have to the figures for the airport?
Will other charters and like that are happening this year balance things out or will it cause a real dent the the passenger figures next year?

It shouldn't make a huge difference. They only operated twice a week but at a time when the airport is trying to reach a new milestone of 3 million passengers pa, it is something the airport could have done without.

 

[User0001]

The PIA route accounted for just short of 35,000 passengers in 2010.

 

[White Heather]

I have to say that I haven't much confidence in AirBlue operating the route, mainly due to them being a relatively small player, although, they just might see LBA as a place to operate from instead of MAN, and leave that to PIA. If they operated 3 or 4 times weekly to Islamabad and Lahore via Dubai, it would turn disappointment into good news for LBA, as the passenger seats available would actually increase, whilst the destinations available would also increase by 2.

Otherwise, it would be great to see Jet2 operate this route instead using a 757, which should have the range (?) if it was LSAB with the winglets. I really can't see it though as I don't think it would fit in with Jet2's Business Plan. But, never say never!

Incidentally, there has been nothing yet from LBA or from PIA locally confirming this - nothing in the paper or on the local news and there is nothing on the LBA website either - ISB remains on the route map and is still shown as the current schedule, with no 'end date' on the timetable.

 

[Jordan-34092]

We need new airlines in, not another Jet2 route, we don't want to see a airport which is mainly Jet2. Also to be fair if Air-blue doesn't take the route i can seriously doubt it will be re launched again there is no other airline in Pakistan which could operate the route, infact there is only three airlines which are based in Pakistan and we now gone through two of them with this route.

 

[Roger that]

If you try to book a LBA-ISB after the 11JUN11 on pia.com clearly shows no flights available! Confirms it then?

 

[lbaspotter]

Hi

Well the airport has just now (Well with-in the last 15 mins) confirmed on its Facebook page that its in disscusions with PIA regarding the LBA - Islamabad service at long last. So now we know they are trying to do something to resolve the situation.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/OfficialLeedsBradfordAirport

Hi Guys... we can confirm that we are in discussions with PIA regarding the LBA operation