PIA to increase flights to Saudi Arabia and China

In this file photo, A Pakistan International Airlines plane prepares to take off at Alama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore. (REUTERS)

• Pakistan’s loss making national airline, which runs 30 flights a week to Saudi Arabia, is to add flights to Al Qaseem and Taif.
• Currently PIA operates 30 weekly flights for Saudi Arabia covering four destinations including Riyadh, Madinah, Jeddah and Dammam.

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is to add four new aircraft to its fleet by August to cover its new Saudi Arabian and Chinese routes, PIA spokesman Mashood Tajwar told Arab News.
PIA will acquire four aircraft — single aisle planes for up to 200 passengers and wide body aircraft to seat 300-plus passengers.
Tajwar added: “We are planning to acquire narrow body aircrafts A320, B737, and wide body Boeing 777, and A330 etc,” Tajwar shared the details.
The new airplanes are to be deployed on Saudi Arabian routes of Al Qaseem and Taif.
“Currently PIA operates 30 weekly flights for Saudi Arabia covering four destinations including Riyadh, Madinah, Jeddah and Dammam. Frequency on the new routes will be decided upon the induction of aircrafts into the fleet,” Tajwar said.
Presently PIA operates three weekly flights to Beijing and plans to open a route for Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province.
The Government has developed a Strategic Business Plan 2018-22 to improve the performance of PIA.
The plan prioritizes segregation of non-core functions from core functions, product improvement, route rationalization, cost reduction/optimization, HR capability development and IT modernization.
Despite financial constraints and a competitive market, PIA gave a stable performance during 2017, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18.
To reduce losses, PIA rationalized routes. It temporarily suspended its New York route, which had been running at an annual loss of 1.2 billion rupees. Its Salalah-Oman route was also suspended to reduce losses.
Flight frequency was increased on profitable domestic routes, such as Karachi-Lahore-Islamabad. Two new destinations — Najaf, Iraq, and Bangkok, Thailand — were opened during 2017.
PIA has refurbished its fleet of 32 aircraft, the Pakistan Economic Survey added.
Aviation experts put the losses of Pakistan’s national carrier down to over-staffing and political interference.
“The losses of PIA have gone up to 45 billion rupees per annum and its accumulated losses are around 316 billion rupees. Constant government interference, over staffing and political meddling is dragging the carrier into financial losses,” Afsar Malik, an aviation consultant, told Arab News.
Malik added: “With the open sky policy and arrival of private sector competitors, it is not possible for government to run this business in profitable manner.
“Almost all of the airlines in world are in private hands. Our neighbor India’s public sector airline, Air India, is also making losses, even more than PIA, and they are in process of privatizing it,” Malik added.