Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)

[ex_crew]

Islamabad – Barcelona Increase from 1 to 2 weekly. From 03JUN10, 1 of 2 weekly via Karachi on outbound, and extends to Chicago

 

[lbaspotter]

Re: PIA

Hi

The listed PIA, International routes have been cancelled on the following dates Due to poor loads during the month of Ramadan upto Eid - 25AUG10-12SEP10

WED PK775/776 - 25AUG10 ISB-LBA-ISB
WED PK775/776 - 01SEP10 ISB-LBA-ISB
MON PK701/702 - 06SEP10 ISB-MAN-ISB
THU PK701/702 - 09SEP10 ISB-MAN-ISB
FRI PK709/710 - 10SEP10 LHE-MAN-LHE
FRI PK787/788 - 10SEP10 KHI-LHR-KHI
SAT PK791/792 - 11SEP10 ISB-BHX-ISB
SAT PK785/786 - 11SEP10 ISB-LHR-ISB
SAT PK775/776 - 11SEP10 ISB-LBA-ISB
SAT PK777/778 - 11SEP10 LHE-GLA-LHE
SUN PK791/792 - 12SEP10 ISB-BHX-ISB
SUN PK701/702 - 12SEP10 ISB-MAN-ISB

 

[lbaspotter]

Re: PIA

Hi all

Good news to report. By all acounts the European Union (EU) has completely lifted the restrictions on all aircraft in PIA fleet.

The blanket approval has been issued to PIA so that it can now use any of its aircraft for flights to/from European Union (EU) member countries. The lifting of restrictions means that they can use any of its Boeing 747s, Airbus A310-300s which have been banned for flights to/from EU member states.

Congrats to PIA

 

[lbaspotter]

Re: PIA

It looks like PIA are going to expand its European operations according to this news artical

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is likely to enhance its international flights’ frequencies and destinations in Europe as ban on its all aircraft –imposed by the European Union (EU) – has been lifted recently, PIA official said.

Official source said the PIA management is considering adding its flights frequencies in London and Copenhagen and destinations in routes of Spain and Turkey.

The destinations in European states would prove profitable for the national airline on the demand of large number of passengers, he said and added “PIA’s planning department studies strongly suggested addition of frequencies and flights on these routes.”

He further said the new routes and flights would be added in the next three to four months since the marketing and regulatory measures normally spare this period.

The EU had imposed a ban over 18 Airbus A310-300 and Boeing 747 aircraft of PIA in March 2007 after the airline failed to meet the standards of Safety Assessment of Foreign Airlines. Besides, PIA’s nine Boeing 777 was the only service allowed to carry out operations on limited routes in the continent.

The EU gradually lifted the ban on 10 aircraft of PIA and it cleared its all 41 aircrafts including remaining eight A310s and B747s upon the standard maintenance of engines and aircraft by the airlines department.

PIA’s Engineering and Maintenance department was one of the best performers of the airline, which has been contributing millions of rupees to airlines for last couple years.

By the end of September 2010, PIA’s engineering business contributed Rs 0.78 billion to the nine month gross profit of 7.803 billion, showing a healthy increase of 25 percent over the corresponding period last year

PIA’s Deputy Managing Director Saleem Siyani said the airlines engineering department has a lot of potential to deliver in the future, as its quality of maintenance is high as per international standards.

He said the talent of engineering department was recognised by US and allocate grant of $60,000 to prepare feasibility report for the joint venture between PIA and its airlines.

Shaukat Jamshed, President Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan (SAEP), said the performance of engineering department would attract handsome business to airlines in the future.

He said the PIA engineers are capable of providing services to all foreign advance aircraft of different airlines.

 

[Aviador]

Re: PIA

It will be interesting to see what changes they make to their schedule.

 

[Aviador]

Re: PIA

According to 'AFP', Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is asking the Pakistan government for a bailout because of the airlines mounting debt. The 'AFP' reports the airline is asking to write off losses of 1.7 billion dollars to save it from bankruptcy.

Click here to read the full story.

 

[lbaspotter]

Well PIA have only gone and done it again. Shock everyone that is! As they have signed a deal to codeshare and operate a hub and spoke network with Turkish Airlines whom are also a star alliance partner. This dose looks like a good deal for once

PIA will give up some of its and lost making US service to Turkish Airlines where they duplicate each others service. Most of PIA's USA bound passengers will be able to connect via Istanbul 3 times daily with PIA flying 2 daily and Turkish once daily between Pakistan and Istanbul.

By looks of things PIA will keep its own direct routes to the Toronto, the UK (Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham & Heathrow) and Europe routes will remain operated by PIA's own aircraft but there is the possibility that some routes will be upgraded in aircraft types and also frequencies. Turkish Airlines will also offer PIA connections to over 100 worldwide destinations under the deal signed.

Source = http://www.khaleejtimes.com/biz/inside. ... n=business

PIA hub in Turkey to compete with Gulf airlines
Muzaffar Rizvi

7 January 2011

DUBAI — Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plans to set up its first regional hub in Turkey to expand its worldwide network to compete with Gulf-based carriers, its top official said on Thursday.

Pakistan’s national flag carrier recently signed an agreement with Turkish Airlines to offer a wide range of facilities to one-stop passengers bound for Europe and the United States.

“We have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Turkish Airlines to expand our network to more than 130 destinations worldwide,” Captain Mohammad Aijaz Haroon, Managing Director of PIA told Khaleej Times in a telephonic interview from Karachi.

He said the agreement is subject to approval from the two governments and will be implemented by the end of March. “We will expand our network and introduce new destinations with the help of Turkish Airlines in summer schedule by March,” he said.

Analysts said the deal is expected to boost seat factor of PIA, which is estimated at 76 per cent during 2010 despite the difficult times in the wake of global financial crisis.

In reply to a question, Capt Haroon said Gulf-based carriers are also interested in having a similar deal with PIA, but Turkish Airlines offers better options. “We get the Turkish Airlines business for its East-bound passengers and the Gulf airlines will never offer those kind of benefits to us,” he said.

Capt Haroon, who assumed the charge of PIA Managing Director in May 2008, said Etihad Airways, Gulf Air and other Middle East airlines have also shown their interest to expand cooperation with PIA. “Etihad Airways delegation is soon coming to Pakistan to discuss similar kind of deal,” he said.

Dispelling the impression that PIA will no more fly to Europe and the US after the deal, Capt Haroon said PIA will continue its direct flights to Europe, the US and other key destinations in the West.

“Turkish Airlines will only take New York and Chicago routes from PIA and we will continue to operate our direct flights to other US cities, all over the United Kingdom, France, Oslo and other destinations,” he explained.

Capt Haroon, who has over 30 years of airline experience, said MoU signed recently is more than a code-sharing deal between the two airlines.

“PIA passengers now will have access to more than 130 destinations through Istanbul hub and they can avail even daily service for more than 100 destinations in Europe, the US and South America.”

He said the deal is a win-win situation for both the airlines as PIA will take the Turkish Airlines passengers bound for the destinations in East.

“Karachi will be Turkish Airlines hub and we will accommodate their passengers for Colombo, Dhaka and other destinations in the East,” Capt Haroon said.

In reply to a question, Capt Haroon said there will be 21 weekly flights between Karachi and Istanbul to transit passengers of the two airlines. “Out of these 21 flights, PIA will operate 14 while the rest seven by Turkish Airlines,” he said.

He said the alliance with Turkish Airlines will directly affect the Gulf-based airlines as PIA passengers bound for remote destinations in the West will use the Istanbul hub rather than changing airlines in Dubai.

“Its an important deal that will expand our network in Europe and the US. We cannot think of building that kind of network for our passengers even in the next five years due to our limited resources and recession in the aviation industry,” he said.

The airline earned an operating profit of Rs3 billion during 2009 and its revenues rose to Rs80 billion. The national flag carrier is expecting up to 25 per cent growth in revenues to cross Rs100 billion mark in 2010.

“We will soon introduce new destinations or increase more flights in the East to expand our network mainly to compete the Gulf airlines,” Capt Haroon concluded.

 

[lbaspotter]

PIA update on the latest MoU with Turkish Airlines. This is in summery so far.

Its looking like PIA's direct flights from Pakistan to the UK which includes services to Manchester, Leeds/Bradford, London Heathrow and Birmingham are safe for now under this new deal signed with Turksih Airlines.

Here is the latest info thats been reported.
Source: http://www.brecorder.com/news/business-and-economy/pakistan/1141420:news.html

PIA to suspend flights to New York, Chicago, Spain, Germany: joint venture agreement signed with Turkish Airlines

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will suspend its flights to New York, Chicago, Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Italy on the implementation of joint venture commercial agreement (JVCA), signed with Turk Hava Yollari, Turkish Airlines (TK), at PIA head office here on December 29, 2010.

The agreement was signed by Captain Muhammad Aijaz Haroon, Managing Director of PIA, and Dr Temel Kotil, President and Chief Executive Officer of TK. According to details of the discussions between the two delegations and JVCA available here, TK President on the request of PIA Managing Director to first present Turkish Airlines proposal for enhancement of commercial co-operation between the two airlines, proposed that there should be seven weekly frequencies each from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to Istanbul and back.

TK suggested that this arrangement would be under a joint venture agreement on trunk routes that will allocate seat capacity and revenues of both parties under one pool arrangement where the earnings would be shared on the basis of seat capacity floated and prorated revenue on each airline's documents.

PIA was also offered by TK 20 percent commission on PIA sales beyond Istanbul sectors that overlap on the prorated fare on that sector, excluding fuel surcharge. PIA Managing Director appreciated TK efforts to increase frequencies to once daily from three gateways of Pakistan. PIA, however, made a counter-proposal to achieve the same objective. In the larger mutual interest of two airlines and to make efficient utilisation of each other's resources, following was proposed by PIA.

PIA suggested that it would stop operation to USA (New York and Chicago) and to Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands. PIA would operate 21 frequencies (seven ex-Islamabad, seven Lahore and seven Karachi) between Turkey and Pakistan and deliver its passengers to TK at Istanbul for onward carriage to destinations beyond Istanbul.

The arrangements would be under pool/prorated revenue sharing and/or Code share where the bilateral arrangements so permit in terms of Third-party co-share clause. PIA proposed to have the code share under free said arrangements on 15 percent commission to marketing carrier on prorated price (net fare plus fuel surcharge) which shall be inclusive of fuel surcharge.

Regulatory authorities of the two countries will be approached for permission to operate these frequencies on aforementioned routes on Temporary Operating Permit (TOP), subject to implementation and continuation of the commercial agreement. However, after discussing various possibilities, it was agreed that the two airlines will work to achieve the following, under JVCA:

-- Operation of 21 frequencies between Pakistan and Turkey, with TK operating four weekly flights between Istanbul and Karachi and three weekly flights between Istanbul and Islamabad on TOP, and PIA operating the remaining frequencies. This arrangement could be re-evaluated and changed, if so desired and agreed between the two airlines.

-- On the implementation of JVCA, PIA will suspend its flights to New York, Chicago, Barcelona (Spain), Amsterdam, (Netherlands), Frankfurt, (Germany), and Italy.

-- PIA will retain its sales personnel at these stations and promote sales on beyond routes and joint venture flights on trunk routes.

-- PIA will operate three weekly flights, originating from Karachi to Houston via Istanbul. These flights will be supported by PIA sales. TK will advise affirmatively to the corresponding authorities for PIA replacement of the beyond point New York specified in Air Service Agreement for USA, to allow freedom carriage on Istanbul-Houston and return sector on these flights.

-- PIA will operate seven weekly frequencies between Istanbul and mutually agreed points in Europe under joint venture code share/pool/commercial arrangements with TK, as additional or as replacement of TK's already operated frequencies.

-- In case joint venture flights are extended to the beyond destinations out of home carrier's any hub, the principles of the seat capacity allocation will be agreed and reflect on the final text of JVCA and will be applicable on reciprocal basis.

-- The above arrangement will be on free sale, code-share basis, where possible, and on pool/SPAs/other commercial arrangements, as required on case to case basis, considering the Air Service Agreement 3rd party code share restrictions. Both airlines will conclude Special Prorate Agreement on all sectors that the airlines may request from the partner.

-- The joint venture operation will be under a joint Revenue Management (RM) control on mutually acceptable fares. Terms and conditions of proposed joint venture will be negotiated and concluded by working groups of both airlines.

-- Turkish Airlines will be joint venture partner on PIA flights from Pakistan to Nepal, Bangladesh, Bombay, (India), Sri Lanka and Male (Maldives), and other points east of Pakistan under similar arrangements.

-- PIA will be General Sales Agent (GSA) for TK in Pakistan, and TK shall be the GSA for PIA in Turkey.

-- PIA will provide ground handling and technical coverage to all TK flights operated to Pakistan, and TK will provide technical coverage and ground handling of PIA aircraft at Istanbul. If required, training of engineers will be mutually arranged.

-- Both airlines will exclusively use catering facilities of the partner airline, when applicable, on flights between Pakistan and Turkey.

-- To give the customers confidence in joint venture operation and homely atmosphere, the airlines will have the right to position their cabin crew on the operating airlines aircraft.

-- The operating carrier will arrange special food, reading material to the taste of marketing carrier's passengers.

-- The two airlines will cooperate in maximum utilisation of each other's engineering, maintenance and training facilities.

-- The two airlines will also integrate their frequent flyer programs for mutual benefit of the airlines and passengers travelling on two airlines.

-- The two airlines will immediately test/integrate interline e-ticketing.

-- Both airlines will provide all assistance/transit/business class lounge facilities to passengers at their home stations.

-- The two parties will also have code-share/block space/commercial co-operation arrangements for carriage of cargo under prorate basis. PIA will support TK to grant the required permission for its cargo flights which are scheduled at two weekly frequency between Turkey and Pakistan.

-- The JVCA is not binding for both parties unless and until both airlines get corresponding approvals from their boards and final documentation is signed by both parties.

Also, the implementation of these arrangements and final JVCA will be subject to the approval of the relevant Anti-Trust Immunity (ATI) and other regulatory authorities of both countries and will be to the extent permitted by any applicable law or regulation, and/or any existing agreement which binds either party. In case of any change to the agreed minutes due, to any such binding clause, the arrangements would be open for re-negotiation.

 

[News Guru]

[textarea]PIA axe Glasgow route, but could expand other UK services

Glasgow will lose its direct air link with Pakistan this month following a shake-up by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) that could see it expand its other UK services, ABTN reports. The airline will axe its twice weekly Glasgow - Lahore route on January 22 following an appraisal of its loss-making operations in Europe.

Its decision to axe Glasgow is linked with competition from Emirates, which operates daily flights from Glasgow to Dubai with onward connections to Pakistan. A spokesman for the airline told ABTN that 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.

The spokesman said: ‘In the UK there are no other closures apart from Glasgow. Glasgow did not meet its operating costs, we tried to linger for a year, but it did not improve.’ He added that any expansion on UK routes would be in time for the summer timetable, which starts at the end of March.

Source[/textarea]

 

[ls27]

According to the dried fruit site PIA is selling it's slots at JFK and O'Hare to Turkish Airlines on not very favourable terms for PIA

 

[lbaspotter]

Hi

Just read the following news artical and it sure dose look like PIA's Leeds/Bradford & Birmingham services are safe along with the airlines Heathrow and Manchester operations. As ther Managing Director Capt. Aijaz Haroon has said the following today.

Source: http://app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129416&Itemid=2

Global business approach for future development of PIA

ISLAMABAD, Feb 1 (APP): Managing Director of Pakistan International Airlines Capt. Aijaz Haroon has said that the global business approach and cooperation is must for the future development of Airlines.Talking to reporters at National Press Club Islamabad, Capt.Aijaz Haroon said the proposed agreement with the Turkish Airlines would enable the national carrier to find new markets in the Western capitals. The agreement if finalised would help PIA passengers to travel to any destination in Europe, USA or Canada. They would also get quick connections in a very short time, he said.
He emphasised that PIA is not selling any of its profitable routes and it will continue to operate on all its major routes such as London, Leeds and Birmingham.

He said due to security reasons and financial constraints Pakistan cannot become the hub of international travel. However, the agreement with Turkish Airlines will eventually enable PIA to expand into Europe and the USA.

He said Istanbul would become the hub of Pakistan International Airlines’ operations in Europe and the US.

PIA would get an opportunity to book passengers for any destination in Europe and the US on daily flights. PIA will take passengers to Istanbul and from there the Turkish Airlines will take them on onward journey.

He said “The passengers will benefit as the Turkish Airlines has daily flights to destinations where PIA does not got to. Aijaz Haroon said “we will benefit as we will get 15 percent commission on all such bookings.Aijaz Haroon said that currently PIA has only ten flights to locations in Europe but if any Pakistani wishing to go to Brussels either has to take foreign airline or travel to France for the purpose.

He said last year around 14,700 Pakistani passengers travelled to Athens through other airlines since PIA did not have service to that location.

He said, PIA conducts three flights to New York and two to Chicago but the Turkish Airlines operates daily flights to Washington DC, Los Angles and other locations.

He said PIA will operate daily flights to Istanbul and benefit from the huge fleet and operation of Turkish Airlines.

He said “the Turkish Airlines will thus have a larger share of Pakistanis travelling to Europe and USA.”

He said that Turkish Airlines would enable passengers possessing PIA tickets to travel from Istanbul to any European city such as Amsterdam, Milan or Frankfurt.

The Managing Director of PIA told reporters that on account of rising competition from the Gulf carriers, PIA currently has only 43 percent of international passengers which was 60 percent in 1993.
Aijaz Haroon said that under the agreement PIA would also be required to upgrade its service, as Turkish Airlines is rated tenth in the world and third best among the European carriers.

Aijaz Haroon said “besides we are focusing on acquiring the Turkish Airlines operations in the East to Beijing, Kuala Lampur, Katmandu, Dhaka, Malaysia and an offer to concession at Western routes”.

 

[Aviador]

PIA is not selling any of its profitable routes and it will continue to operate on all its major routes such as London, Leeds and Birmingham

.


Interesting choice. No mention of Manchester or Glasgow?

 

[lbaspotter]

You may find that Manchester was not mentioned because it will be taking a slit hit as PIA will be dropping the Pakistan-Manchester-USA services. It will however continue to operate Pakistan-Manchester direct services.

Also Glasgow is no longer served. The route got dropped from the PIA network last month.

 

[Aviador]

You may find that Manchester was not mentioned because it will be taking a slit hit as PIA will be dropping the Pakistan-Manchester-USA services. It will however continue to operate Pakistan-Manchester direct services.

Also Glasgow is no longer served. The route got dropped from the PIA network last month.

That explains things as far as Manchester is concerned. As for Glasgow, didn't they just drop Lahore? Isn't Islamabad still available?

 

[Aviador]

There could be delays on flights to the UK today after strikes by PIA staff caused disruption to the airlines route network yesterday.

The entire flight operation of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) came to a near halt on Tuesday after employees went on a strike, refusing to perform onboard duties and blocking entrances of major airports, officials said.

Scuffles also broke out between the workers associated with rival unions, which stand apart on the question of demanding the resignation of Managing Director Aijaz Haroon, who sent home eight pilots on charges of misconduct, they said.

“More than two dozen flights faced delays as pilots did not report for work and passengers were not allowed to get on the aircraft,” said a PIA official. “Ten flights were also cancelled. We have been trying to calm down the situation and even sought security backup.”

Hundreds of PIA employees were sitting at airports in Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar till the filing of this report. Flight operations in Islamabad were the worst affected.

PIA operates around 150 domestic and international flights daily. “The worst blow came from the pilots as 60 of them reported sick. This in other words means that they refused to take the flights,” a PIA spokesman said.

The latest setback for the PIA came at a time when the national flag carrier is trying to bolster revenues through a code-share agreement with the Turkish Airlines — a move bitterly opposed by the Council of Employees of PIA (CEPIA), a confederation representing six different unions.

Protests were prompted after PIA sacked eight pilots earlier in the week. “It was a decision of the management to take care of troublemakers,” said Aijaz Haroon. “We have every right to lay off people who are not performing their jobs.”

The management even asked the CEPIA to come and sit on the table for ironing out the differences, he said. “But I guess they are not ready for any sort of negotiations. They want to create a crisis.”

He said that the airline administration could not do much to resume the operations immediately as rowdy workers blocked the airport and stopped other employees from performing routine work.

“No flight has taken off from Islamabad for the past 12 hours. Apparently, the Punjab Police are not doing anything to clear the workers. Clearly, there are political undertones to all this mess.”

Political leaders not happy with the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have also jumped in to lend support to the protesting employees, he regretted. “There was no need for Hanif Abbasi (PML-N leader) to come on television and involve himself with the issue.”

The Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) has been at loggerheads with Haroon led management for more than a year. It has even hired a public relations company to back its attacks on the management.

Convener of CEPIA and President PALPA Sohail Baluch said that the management kicked out senior pilots without even giving them a chance to clear their position. “Is this a fair treatment? How can anyone be sacked without a warning?”

Employees wanted to stage a peaceful protest but the workers aligned with the self-proclaimed CBA of Amir Shah, who is backed by the PPP government, threatened and harassed the employees, he said.

“We will not deter until Aijaz Haroon resigns and the termination letters of our members are taken back,” he said. “Everyone of us is united on this issue.” While the passengers were suffering, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) — the aviation regulator and manager of all the airports — distanced itself from the issue.

Riazul Haq, Deputy DG CAA, said that nothing could be done if workers of the airline did not want to work. “Unfortunately, our mandate does not allow us to interfere. There is nothing we can do.” He said that the Airport Security Force (ASF) works under the directives of Ministry of Defence and CAA cannot engage it to clear the airport from the protesting employees.

Union leaders have led a successful campaign against PIA management’s proposal for a code agreement with Turkish Airlines that allows two airlines to use each others’ aircraft, facilities and gain access to cities, which are not on their network.

Under the proposed agreement, PIA will stop flights to Chicago and New York and to Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. Instead, it will operate daily flights from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore to Turkey. However, PIA will continue to operate direct flights between Pakistan and the US, the UK, Denmark and Norway. Similarly, it will carry Turkish Airlines’ passengers to destinations in east like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka via Pakistan.

Khalid Iqbal adds from Rawalpindi: A tense situation prevailed at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad, following a strong protest by the PIA employees demanding immediate reinstatement of eight sacked pilots and dismissal of Managing Director (MD) PIA, who had sacked these pilots.

The protesting PIA employees were also demanding cancellation of the agreement with Turkish Airlines.At the Islamabad Airport, the enraged employees stopped all kinds of operations, including traffic, cabins, ticketing and catering of flights. They punctured the tyres of all flights at the airport.

Hundreds of passengers were offloaded from Hong Kong bound PK-892 and Paris bound PK-737 because the PIA employees punctured the tyres of these planes. The protesting PIA employees also staged a sit-in at the main runway and forcibly stopped the flights from taking off. All the shops in the airport jurisdiction were closed to avoid any untoward incident.

After the closure of flights, the passengers also became impatient and broke the windows of the airport lounges and raised slogans against the PIA management. Scuffles between the ASF personnel and enraged passengers were also witnessed.

The airport management called extra police and Eagle Squad to control the situation. A heavy contingent of police and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the whole airport area. Police tried to disperse the passengers from the airport but failed to do so.

Talking to The News, passengers, including foreigners, said that they had been waiting for flights at the airport since morning, but the PIA management could not initiate the flights as per schedule. Mansha Abbass, a passenger, said that he along with his family had been stuck up at the airport since morning.

Dean Jones, a passenger, said that he wanted to see his sick mother in Paris, but unfortunately he was stuck up at the airport. “We tried to meet PIA’s higher authorities at the airport but officials were not present on their seats,” he said.

The PIA Islamabad Union president Hidayatullah Khan and vice president Shoaib Yousafzai in their addresses said that they would continue the strike till the dismissal of the MD and reinstatement of eight sacked pilots. They said that PIA should immediately cancel the agreement with Turkish Airlines or they would forcibly stop all flights. “We would not only stop all PIA flights but would sit on the main runway 24 hours till the acceptance of our demands,” they warned.

When The News contacted PIA Director (Media) Mashud Tajwar, he said the passengers were suffering due to stoppage of flights at the Islamabad Airport. He said that flights were taking off and landing as per schedule on all airports of the country except the Islamabad Airport.

APP adds: Tajwar said “only a couple of hundred” out of 18,000 PIA employees had responded to the strike call. President Peoples Unity (CBA) Sajid Mehmood Gujjar and General Secretary Hussain Abbas told APP that all the international flights from Lahore to London, Paris, New York, Toronto, Jeddah and Dubai departed as per their schedule while a domestic flight from Lahore to Quetta was also flown according to its timing.

“All the employees are present on their duty and the airport is functioning as per routine,” said Sajjad Gujjar. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has taken a serious notice of the PIA employees strike. He has directed Minister for Defence Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Minister for Labour and Manpower Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah to resolve the issue immediately.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDe ... t=2/9/2011

 

[lbaspotter]

Full list of todays effected flights due to the strikes with PIA.

Cancelled due to operational constraints.

08 February
PK205 – 206 = Lahore – Peshawar – Kuwait – Lahore
PK211-212 = Islamabad-Dubai-Islamabad
PK217 = Peshawar - Abu Dhabi
PK221-222 = Faisalabad – Dubai - Faisalabad
PK238 = Abu Dhabi – Karachi
PK245 = Islamabad - Dammam
PK276 = Khi-DAC
PK277 = DAC-Khi
PK301 = Islamabad – Karachi
PK309 = Islamabad – Karachi
PK346 = Karachi - Bahawalpur
PK385 = Islamabad-Lahore

09 February
PK329-328 = Islamabad - Quetta - Islamabad
PK211-212 = Islamabad - Dubai - Islamabad
PK246 = Dammam – Sialkot - Islamabad
PK304-203-204-313 = Karachi - Lahore - Dubai - Lahore - Karachi
PK340-341 = Karachi - Faisalabad - Karachi
PK364 = Karachi - Islamabad
PK365 = Islamabad- Karachi
PK368 = Karachi - Islamabad
PK385 = Islamabad – Lahore
PK538 = KHI-MJD-SKZ
PK539 = SKZ-KHI
PK582-583 = Karachi - Rahim Yar Khan - Lahore
PK651-652 = Islamabad - Lahore - Islamabad
PK689 = Islamabad - Peshawar - Dera Ismail Khan - Zhob - Quetta - Karachi
PK701-702 = Islamabad - Manchester - Islamabad,
PK775-776 = Islamabad - Leeds - Islamabad
PK785-788 = Islamabad - London – Karachi
PK892-893 = Islamabad - Bangkok – Hong Kong - Bangkok – Islamabad
PK3002 = Karachi- Islamabad

 

[raza]

PIA is very down nowadays for many reasons and it is going to give its European routes to Turkish Airlines.

 

[Aviador]

PIA is very down nowadays for many reasons and it is going to give its European routes to Turkish Airlines.

I assume you mean it's mainland Europe routes because the UK routes remain unaffected for the time being.

 

[lbaspotter]

According to a report, PIA is planning to acquire a total of 12 Airbus A320-200 aircraft,s and has sought Pakistan Government guarantees for leasing the aircraft. The aircraft will be dry leased from Airbus Industries and apparently Airbus Asset Management.

PIA will return six Airbus A310-300s that the airline acquired on ten-year dry lease from Airbus Asset Management in year 2003. These six dry leased A310s are AP-BGN, AP-BGO, AP-BGP, AP-BGQ, AP-BGR and AP-BGS and also faze out there 6x older Boeing 737-300's as direct replacements.

So as it stand the 12 Leased A320'S will be deployed by the airline on its domestic and shorter haul network routes while the remaining 6 owned A310-300's will remain deployed on the airlines longer haul routes to Europe and Asia that can't sustain a Boeing 777 operation. eg LBA and so on for the time been.

 

[Jordan-34092]

[textarea]Accident: PIA B733 near Islamabad on Aug 12th 2011, clear air turbulence injures 2


A PIA Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 737-300, registration AP-BCA performing flight PK-386 from Multan to Islamabad (Pakistan) with 118 passengers, was enroute about 30 minutes prior to estimated landing in Islamabad when the aircraft encountered severe clear air turbulence causing injuries to two passengers. The crew continued for a safe landing in Islamabad, the two injured were taken to a local hospital.

The airline said, one passenger who had not fastened his seat belt was injured but was able to continue his journey after treatment.

Source[/textarea]