Pakistan Civil Aviation | Information & News.

[khanboy007]

Saudi Arabia denies landing of PIA flight at wrong airport | GulfNews.com

Saudi Arabia denies landing of PIA flight at wrong airport

Riyadh-bound passengers shocked to find themselves in Jeddah, report says

• By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
• Published: 13:50 April 14, 2014

Manama: The General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia has denied reports that a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane flying from Karachi to Riyadh had mistakenly landed at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah.

“There is no way that a plane lands by mistake at Jeddah airport instead of Riyadh because all inbound and outbound flights are in accordance with a specific schedule approved by the General Authority of Civil Aviation,” Abdullah Al Khabiri, the spokesperson for the authority, said, quoted by local news site Sabq.

PIA Flight 731 from Karachi is scheduled to land in Jeddah on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, while Flight 732 leaves from Jeddah, he added.

PIA Flight 729 from Karachi to Riyadh is scheduled for Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday while Flight 730 is from the Riyadh to Karachi.

On Sunday, Sabq reported that passengers have asked for financial compensation after a PIA plane flying them from Karachi to Riyadh landed instead at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah.

The passengers were shocked when they found themselves at the airport in the Red Sea city instead of the international airport in the Saudi capital, Sabq reported, citing Pakistani media.

The Pakistani company provided buses to transport the passengers to the capital, almost 1,000 kilometres away, and offered them food and drinks, the reports said.

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Alhamdulillah this turns up

 

[khanboy007]

BBC News - Airline cuts Leeds Bradford Airport to Pakistan route

Airline cuts Leeds Bradford Airport to Pakistan route

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is to close its service from Leeds Bradford Airport to Islamabad following claims the route is uneconomic.

The twice weekly flights will end in May with the airline adding an extra flight from Manchester Airport.

PIA said "this decision has been taken due to heavy losses being incurred on this route".

Tony Hallwood, the airport's aviation development manager, described the closure as "very disappointing".

Mr Hallwood said he was surprised at the decision, claiming that the airport's own figures showed the two flights were the "fastest growing of PIA services in the UK at present".

'Significant demand'
He said: "We know the figures and we have shown that our passenger growth over the last 12 months has been around about 30% and, in certain months, higher than that.

"Which clearly shows there is significant demand."

The airline started the flights six years ago, just after the airport was privatised.

A PIA spokesman said: "Despite our best efforts, the route's economics have not been very promising.

"The major reason behind this rationale is very high operational costs due lack of fuel-efficient aircraft."

The airline said it would be using a different aircraft on the Manchester route which was more fuel efficient and carried more passengers.

Mr Hallwood said he hoped PIA would reverse its closure plans and introduce newer, more cost effective aircraft to Leeds.

"However, if they [PIA] find it impossible to resurrect those services then of course we will look to introduce other services with other carriers at the earliest opportunity," he added.

 

[SHAMK9]

BBC News - Airline cuts Leeds Bradford Airport to Pakistan route

Airline cuts Leeds Bradford Airport to Pakistan route

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is to close its service from Leeds Bradford Airport to Islamabad following claims the route is uneconomic.

The twice weekly flights will end in May with the airline adding an extra flight from Manchester Airport.

PIA said "this decision has been taken due to heavy losses being incurred on this route".

Tony Hallwood, the airport's aviation development manager, described the closure as "very disappointing".

Mr Hallwood said he was surprised at the decision, claiming that the airport's own figures showed the two flights were the "fastest growing of PIA services in the UK at present".

'Significant demand'
He said: "We know the figures and we have shown that our passenger growth over the last 12 months has been around about 30% and, in certain months, higher than that.

"Which clearly shows there is significant demand."

The airline started the flights six years ago, just after the airport was privatised.

A PIA spokesman said: "Despite our best efforts, the route's economics have not been very promising.

"The major reason behind this rationale is very high operational costs due lack of fuel-efficient aircraft."

The airline said it would be using a different aircraft on the Manchester route which was more fuel efficient and carried more passengers.

Mr Hallwood said he hoped PIA would reverse its closure plans and introduce newer, more cost effective aircraft to Leeds.

"However, if they [PIA] find it impossible to resurrect those services then of course we will look to introduce other services with other carriers at the earliest opportunity," he added.

Good, Frankfurt and Amsterdam should be next if they are not operated non-stop.

 

[khanboy007]

Good, Frankfurt and Amsterdam should be next if they are not operated non-stop.

not sure about Amsterdam; but adding a flight to Frankfurt would be a viable option or else increase the numbers from Oslo,Manchester,Birmingham

 

[khanboy007]

an interesting article

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PIA: A festering wound

There is a large Pakistani expat community living in USA, with sizable population in Texas, Illinois and the Tri States of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and the West Coast. In the past PIA flew to Houston, Chicago, Washington and New York. The national airline recently bought expensive, long range B-777 with ‘Business Plan’ based on expansion of Trans Atlantic operations. The PIA management instead of increasing its routes sold very lucrative routes to other countries. When the routes shrunk there were less flights, most of them operating at an average capacity of 69%, which is just enough to be profitable. PIA faces huge problems because of the unchecked pilferage of revenues, kickbacks in procurement and leasing of aircraft, lack of accountability, gross financial misappropriation, mediocrity and posting incompetent and corrupt persons at crucial international hubs, both by successive military and elected civil governments.
If PIA had a competent management with integrity, it would have brought all its teams such as marketing, finance and top management, on the same page and stopped policies which translate into, what constitutes unchecked repetitive commercial suicide. The U-turn taken after building up traffic, all of a sudden at take off point, PIA closed its lucrative routes and by a strange coincidence, some airline in the Gulf estate or Turkey, starts its operation, filling in the deliberate void. What baffles the imagination is that nobody in Islamabad, or the Board Of Directors of PIA has taken note of these practices by some management team, post retirement, these same senior executives end up getting cushy jobs in subsidiaries owned by the airlines based in Gulf. Hajj and Umra pilgrims continued to be fleeced by PIA and few travel agents or tour operators, even after change of government.
Pakistani expatriates in US are shocked when the toll free 1-800-578-6786 has a recording announcing the departure from JFK, New York as 19:00 hrs, instead of the actual flight time which is 21:00 hrs. While PIA has highest employee to aircraft ratio in the world, yet it has curtailed Central Control, manned by Licensed Flight Dispatcher to help co-ordinate and avoid unnecessary diversions, improve fleet utilization and maintain punctuality of schedules. Can somebody explain why PK 721 on April 15, diverted to Washington, when JFK New York Airport was open for all departures and landings?
How can PIA improve if it protects employees who submitted fake degrees, fake birth certificates, fake domiciles at time of recruitment, or are involved in gross financial mismanagement and grave administrative indiscipline? Is someone looking into the matter or will it fester like a wound forever depriving Pakistan of a national airline?
ALI MALIK TARIQ,
Lahore, April 23.

PIA: A festering wound

 

[imiakhtar]

an interesting article

Actually, it's bloody awful.

British Airways couldn't make any money flying to Dhaka with 90% load factors and despite overall profits, almost every single long haul Pacific route to Asia operated by airlines in the US is losing money.

Qantas is losing money faster than it can count on International ops. If it wasn't for a strong and profitable domestic sector, Qantas would collapse.

Air India has been shedding capacity and has spare 777s sitting around as it doesn't want to deploy them on long haul flights to Europe and America as the flights lose money.

I'll ask the question that I asked before - If Air India, which serves a far larger expat community and travel market, operates a modern fleet with lots of capacity to a stable growing economy can't make money on most long haul flights, what makes the writer of this article think that PIA can?

Long haul flying where fuel is almost 50% of costs is not cheap, especially when you're flying 10+ hour sectors.

The national airline recently bought expensive, long range B-777 with ‘Business Plan’ based on expansion of Trans Atlantic operations.

Actually the plan was for the 777 to replace the 747. The objective of starting more or strengthening transatlantic flights was secondary.

kickbacks in procurement and leasing of aircraft

There is no proof of this.

One of the reason PIA still has an aging fleet is because it has spent years fighting politicians with their own vested interests. If it wasn't for successive politicians and managing directors pulling in different directions, PIA would have been able to tender and replace their short/medium haul fleet by now.

Instead we have a cat and mouse game with unrealistic aircraft tenders being issued, accepted withdrawn cancelled etc depending on the preferences of ministers.

If you follow the aircraft tenders recently, you will find that the evaluation reports often include the lease costs.

PIA closed its lucrative routes

Houston, Chicago, Glasgow, Leeds-Bradford, Amsterdam etc are not lucrative routes when you fly a crappy 2 weekly service with load factors averaging 65%.

Turkey, starts its operation, filling in the deliberate void

The plan to start a code-share arrangement with Turkish on EU and American routes was probably the best idea to come from a Pakistani MD in decades.

Can somebody explain why PK 721 on April 15, diverted to Washington, when JFK New York Airport was open for all departures and landings?

Flight was diverted like 100s of others due to low visibility:

More than 3,500 US flights delayed, 643 canceled today; New York City area and Philadelphia airports see most impact - FlightAware.com - breakingnews.com

EWR JFK LGA SWF (NY_NJairports) on Twitter

 

[Al Bhatti]

UAE having a population of around 6 million and passenger capacity of just the two Dubai airports are (i am not counting the capacity of airports of the other six emirates):

Old airport: will be 90 million by the end of the decade
New airport: Final capacity will be 220 million passenger per year

All this is not possible without the combined efforts of different ministries like Interior, tourism, Customs etc…

Meanwhile, what is the best that Pakistani airports and ministries have to offer?

The Dubai General Directorate for Residency and Foreigners Affairs’ (GDRFA) smart gate at Terminal 3 is making life easier for travellers’ entering and exiting without the need to stop at passport control section to show their passport or ID. Travellers who use the smart gate do not need to undergo prior registration with the GDRFA unlike the e-gates.

The system upgrade will be installed into the e-gate that would allow the identification of passengers by getting their biometrical scan once they walk in.

“The smart gate will work on e-passport, identity card, Emirates’ gate card or smart phone applications and take 20 seconds to proceed with the transaction,” he said.

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We have Computerized passports and ID cards why this cannot be implemented in Pakistan?

 

[Panther 57]

Good, Frankfurt and Amsterdam should be next if they are not operated non-stop.

Question is why it is uneconomical. Cutting down routes and yet increasing staff is not the solution. PIA has to increase the route, reduce staff and upgrade their services. Looking at local travel I would rate
Shaheen #1
Air blue #2
PIA #3

If such is the situation then PIA has to rethink its revival strategy, which has to be commercial and not political. It should not be route oriented but should have vision of revamping the whole organisation. Thai, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, etc are growing and PIA is shrinking. What a pity. Thanks to its dedicated unions and staff.

 

[imiakhtar]

Question is why it is uneconomical.

As things stand, PIA can not compete with other International airlines due to high cost structure. The high cost structure is due to the following: high numbers of staff and an aging and increasingly unreliable fleet.

PIA has to increase the route, reduce staff and upgrade their services.

I disagree.

If PIA had followed your suggestion 10 years ago then they would have been in with a chance in those markets (Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Italy, France, Denmark, Japan, China, Malaysia, Bangkok, Hong-Kong).

Now PIA needs to downsize (network wise), pull out of those markets and follow the old MD's suggestion of code-sharing to those EU destinations with Turkish Airlines.

Looking at local travel I would rate
Shaheen #1
Air blue #2
PIA #3

PIA is still No 1 in Pakistan and has almost 60% market share. Given Airblue's difficulties and their crappy management, I would put them at the bottom of your list. Shaheen management isn't much better nor creative and I would rank them below PIA too.

Thai,

Thai isn't growing. In fact she's struggling almost as much as PIA.

Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, etc are growing

You can't compare an O+D airline like PIA with Emirates, Qatar or Etihad. Turkish would be a better comparison.

 

[Al Bhatti]

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has attained operating profit of Rs1.67 billion for the first quarter of 2014 – January 1 to March 31 – as against a loss of Rs5.65 billion of corresponding period last year.

Now compare that with a budget airline of Sharjah, UAE which was founded in February 2003 and commenced operation in October 2003

1,670,000,000.00 PKR = 62,195,283.59 AED as of today

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May 12, 2014

Air Arabia Q1 profit up 27% to Dh75 million on jet fuel gains

Net earnings jump as revenues rose 13.5% to Dh827 million

Air Arabia, the Sharjah-based low cost carrier, on Monday reported a 27 per cent jump in first quarter net profit to Dh75 million on the back of improving jet fuel prices.

“Profit continues to benefit from a more conducive fuel environment,” stated Will Horton, senior analyst at CAPA – Centre for Aviation.

Revenue for the three months ending March 31, 2014, increased 13.5 per cent to Dh827 million, compared to Dh722 million in last year’s first quarter.

Highlighting the airline’s performance in the first quarter, Air Arabia stated that the result reflect its “solid financials, strong business model and broad customer base.”

The UAE’s only publicly-listed airline, Air Arabia carried 1.63 million passengers in the first quarter.

The 12 per cent increase in passengers, up from 1.45 million in last year’s first quarter, comes on the back of newly launched routes from Sharjah to Cairo in Egypt, Antalya in Turkey, and Shymkent in Kazakhstan. Average load factor for the first three months stood at 81.5 per cent.

“We remain confident about the long-term prospects for the industry and fully intend to continue spreading our value-for-money philosophy to more destinations and more passengers in the future,” stated Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani, chairman of Air Arabia.

However, Air Arabia has not been safeguarded from global volatility in the first quarter. It has reportedly suspended flights to Donetsk in the east of Ukraine, which is the latest city to come under control of pro-Russian militias. It has also reduced frequencies to Kiev and Odessa.

The results, however, do not include newly launched operations from Ras Al Khaimah, which is the airline’s fourth hub after Sharjah, Alexandra in Egypt and Casablanca in Morocco.

Serving seven destinations, Air Arabia launched operations from Ras Al Khaimah last week, having now become the designated carrier for the emirate following the collapse of RAK Airways earlier this year.

“The next two quarters will show how much of a benefit Air Arabia will have from reduced movements at Dubai International, and later this year and early next year if any of the added traffic from the runway works sticks to Air Arabia,” Horton said.

Air Arabia shares closed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) down 2.03 per cent to Dh1.45. The results were released after markets closed on Monday.

Air Arabia Q1 profit up 27% to Dh75 million on jet fuel gains | GulfNews.com

 

[Panther 57]

PIA is still No 1 in Pakistan and has almost 60% market share. Given Airblue's difficulties and their crappy management, I would put them at the bottom of your list. Shaheen management isn't much better nor creative and I would rank them below PIA too.

I am a frequent traveler and use all three; therefore, am in a better position to assess services of airlines. PIA may be having 60% share, not because of service but because of number of flights to domestic destinations per day. I also use PIA when i want to have a fall back.

Emirates flies at least 6 flights a day from Pakistan to DXB. It has a large business class and is always full. I preferred PIA while travelling to Dubai and till they had Business class on that route, I used to be the only revenue passenger both ways. One or two co travelers on the same class were either PIA people moving on duty or people obliged. Finally, they shut down their business class operation to Dubai. If the airline is so good at its service why Emirates is taking loads of premium passengers and PIA had to cease its premium operation. Not only Emirates but Etihad is also taking full load up and down of premium passengers. PIA is relying on only passengers from Bangladesh, whose main concern is the cost. It is a point to ponder that people are ready to pay foreign airlines higher price against PIAs 15% lower cost. Lets not remain fools paradise and accept that PIA has dug up its own grave by its own people.

I disagree.
If PIA had followed your suggestion 10 years ago then they would have been in with a chance in those markets (Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Italy, France, Denmark, Japan, China, Malaysia, Bangkok, Hong-Kong).
Now PIA needs to downsize (network wise), pull out of those markets and follow the old MD's suggestion of code-sharing to those EU destinations with Turkish Airlines.

It is never too late for entering in a market. Though the later you join the run more difficult it is. However, a prudent strategic plan can lead to success. Qatar came up with revamp plan long after Emirates. So did Thai and Etihad. They are capturing market. Air Arabia and Fly Dubai came much later, yet they are capturing market. Code sharing is in fact slow poisoning, which will ultimately kill. In code sharing the aircraft used are of the other airline and people are blind. Once they will use PIA second time they will go to source. One day the airline which has taken the market share in the name of PIA will cancel code sharing agreement. Where will PIA stand then.

 

[imiakhtar]

Code sharing is in fact slow poisoning,

If it was a pill, why are the ME3 QR, EY and to a lesser extent EK utilising codeshares to strengthen their networks and give their customers greater options?

eg, Etihad Code-Share With JetBlue Opens Up Flights Beyond New York - Bloomberg

Qatar Airways Announces Expanded Codeshare Agreement With US Airways -- WASHINGTON, Dec.16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

BA starts Qatar Airways codeshare | News | Travel Trade Gazette

JetBlue | Investor relations | Press Releases

So did Thai

Not sure why you keep bringing Thai Airways into this. Thai like PIA is not growing but failing miserably:

http://thai.listedcompany.com/misc/ar/20140410-THAI-AR2013-EN.pdf

Thai Airways expects further losses in 2014 due to unrest| Reuters

UPDATE 1-Thai Airways reports third successive quarterly loss| Reuters

Thai Airways confirms heavy loss | News | Travel Trade Gazette

It is a point to ponder that people are ready to pay foreign airlines higher price against PIAs 15% lower cost.

Another fallacy that PIA is cheaper. It isn't. A quick glance at one of their better intl destinations Manchester shows the following options and prices for the second week of June return:

Qatar:£448
Emirates: £468
PIA: £480
Etihad: £483

 

[Panther 57]

If it was a pill, why are the ME3 QR, EY and to a lesser extent EK utilising codeshares to strengthen their networks and give their customers greater options?

Exactly, emirates is strengthening their network. most of the places Emirates is operating its aircraft and only those infrequent destinations where passenger load is less, they give it to other airlines. Code sharing is done to increase customer network rather then transferring customers to other airlines.

Another fallacy that PIA is cheaper. It isn't. A quick glance at one of their better intl destinations Manchester shows the following options and prices for the second week of June return:

you are stuck with Manchester have look at more frequent flown destinations..

 

[imiakhtar]

Emirates is operating its aircraft and only those infrequent destinations where passenger load is less, they give it to other airlines.

Which is precisely my point. PIA should drop their service to the smaller markets and utilise codeshares to those dropped markets with airlines (Turkish for example serves 5+ cities in Germany) that have the network and fleet to serve them.

In the EU, LHR, BHX and MAN are by far the biggest markets for PIA. When PIA was operating the A310 into Amsterdam their load factors were averaging 60%. It was/is a similar story for other non-UK cities in the EU.

you are stuck with Manchester have look at more frequent flown destinations

Fine. Dubai to Karachi return in June. PIA prices 1500-2000AED (some flights requiring transfer in LHE), Qatar £189, Gulf £200 and Emirates £220. Doesn't seem far cheaper to me.

 

[Panther 57]

Which is precisely my point. PIA should drop their service to the smaller markets and utilise codeshares to those dropped markets with airlines (Turkish for example serves 5+ cities in Germany) that have the network and fleet to serve them.

In the EU, LHR, BHX and MAN are by far the biggest markets for PIA. When PIA was operating the A310 into Amsterdam their load factors were averaging 60%. It was/is a similar story for other non-UK cities in the EU.



Fine. Dubai to Karachi return in June. PIA prices 1500-2000AED (some flights requiring transfer in LHE), Qatar £189, Gulf £200 and Emirates £220. Doesn't seem far cheaper to me.

I dont know from where you are taking this figure. I am travelling dubai almost every month.