Pakistan Civil Aviation | Information & News.

[VCheng]

How is JFK a loss sustaining route? The plane is full every time i have been on it. How about cutting half of your employees?

How many of those passengers on the plane are actually generating revenue for PIA?

 

[A.M.]

How many of those passengers on the plane are actually generating revenue for PIA?

I've always paid

 

[ACE OF THE AIR]

How many of those passengers on the plane are actually generating revenue for PIA?

I've always paid

It is not that all passengers travel free and the PIA staff is far too many. It is the requirement to make a technical landing were all passenger and cargo along with the aircraft would require screening. It would have been far easier if the routes that PIA operated in the 80-90's were flown ie Karachi-Amsterdam-New York, Karachi - Frankfort- New York,Karachi-Paris-New York.

At that time there were 10flights a week to New York and 2 flights would also go to Torronto from New York and one weekly cargo flight to New York which flew from Karachi-Athens-Paris/Frankfort- New York.

 

[VCheng]

It is not that all passengers travel free and the PIA staff is far too many. It is the requirement to make a technical landing were all passenger and cargo along with the aircraft would require screening. It would have been far easier if the routes that PIA operated in the 80-90's were flown ie Karachi-Amsterdam-New York, Karachi - Frankfort- New York,Karachi-Paris-New York.

At that time there were 10flights a week to New York and 2 flights would also go to Torronto from New York and one weekly cargo flight to New York which flew from Karachi-Athens-Paris/Frankfort- New York.

Numbers don't lie. Employees per passenger and Revenue generated per passenger make PIA look horrible compared to its competitors.

 

[imiakhtar]

How is JFK a loss sustaining route? The plane is full every time i have been on it. How about cutting half of your employees?

Load factor (% of seats filled) is not a reliable indicator of how a route is performing.

As an example, British Airways had a load factor close to 95% for their London Heathrow-Dhaka flights, yet they were still losing money on the route and as a result they cancelled it.

New York - Pakistan is an even longer and more expensive flight (greater fuel fraction carried) which makes it more difficult to make money with the 777.

Lastly, I will add that Air India has higher load factors on India-USA flights than PIA does to the US, yet even they can't make money with the 777.

New York needs to be cut like Chicago and Houston before it.

If PIA can't fly daily to Toronto, then they should look at culling that too.

 

[WishLivePak]

Load factor (% of seats filled) is not a reliable indicator of how a route is performing.

As an example, British Airways had a load factor close to 95% for their London Heathrow-Dhaka flights, yet they were still losing money on the route and as a result they cancelled it.

New York - Pakistan is an even longer and more expensive flight (greater fuel fraction carried) which makes it more difficult to make money with the 777.

Lastly, I will add that Air India has higher load factors on India-USA flights than PIA does to the US, yet even they can't make money with the 777.

New York needs to be cut like Chicago and Houston before it.

If PIA can't fly daily to Toronto, then they should look at culling that too.

emirates does 777 from dubai to seattle. But their fares are quite expensive. So perhaps these airlines need to bump up airfares.

Also saudia costs some 900$ to pakistan (including stay and last year they did $700) but pia charges 1400. both use 777lr. Clearly there is something wrong.

 

[imiakhtar]

Emirates has vastly lower flying costs (the metric used in the industry is CASM or cost per average seat mile) than PIA.

Same for Saudia.

Besides, with Emirates, their 777s are configured in a 10 abreast 3-4-3 arrangement in economy compared to a 9 abreast 3-3-3 arrangement for PIA which further lowers their seat mile costs. Additionally, the fact that they devote less space to economy cabin means they can have larger premium cabins (business and first) which further help their margins

Also saudia costs some 900$ to pakistan (including stay and last year they did $700) but pia charges 1400. both use 777lr.

Saudia doesn't operate the LR.

 

[WishLivePak]

Emirates has vastly lower flying costs (the metric used in the industry is CASM or cost per average seat mile) than PIA.

Same for Saudia.

Besides, with Emirates, their 777s are configured in a 10 abreast 3-4-3 arrangement in economy compared to a 9 abreast 3-3-3 arrangement for PIA which further lowers their seat mile costs. Additionally, the fact that they devote less space to economy cabin means they can have larger premium cabins (business and first) which further help their margins



Saudia doesn't operate the LR.

777 nonetheless.

Well then PIA needs to use 10 abreast. Also PIA has 54 premium economy and cheaper business class than competitors, which is why some say it's frequently booked. But still, 900vs1400 direct flight, PIA needs to see why there is no profit

 

[imiakhtar]

The thing is, if PIA ups their prices to be in line with those of Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Turkish et al, they have to have competitive offerings which they don't.

If you're flying to Pak, if the prices are the same are you going to put your family on a PIA flight or one of the competitors?

If we haven't got any oldies with us, my family always opts for the ME airlines.

 

[WishLivePak]

The thing is, if PIA ups their prices to be in line with those of Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Turkish et al, they have to have competitive offerings which they don't.

If you're flying to Pak, if the prices are the same are you going to put your family on a PIA flight or one of the competitors?

If we haven't got any oldies with us, my family always opts for the ME airlines.

I'd go with PIA.

Food. Direct. Assuming both cost same. But this assuming it's nonstop. Domestic planes are constatnly late.

So ill do toronto dubai quetta with emirates and toronto islamabad with pia. If

 

[imiakhtar]

So ill do toronto dubai quetta with emirates

Emirates doesn't fly to Quetta.

 

[WishLivePak]

Emirates doesn't fly to Quetta.

just an example. Fine, replace with sialkot or peshawar.

 

[Al Bhatti]

October 2, 2014

Pakistani International Airlines aircraft taxi on a runway at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore.


Pakistan International Airways could stand a chance at regaining former glory

Twenty-nine years ago, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) helped Emirates Airline get off the ground by lending it two planes, an Airbus A300 and a Boeing 737. At the time PIA was an established moneymaker and Emirates a four-plane fledgling. Since then the two carriers have flown in opposite directions, and now PIA is hoping that an Arabian Gulf airline such as Emirates will buy a stake in Pakistan’s ailing flag carrier.

Now the Pakistani government has a plan to put PIA on its feet and return it to profitability. It wants to split the company in two.

One unit, including assets such as ground handling and hotels, would be put into a holding company, and sold off gradually.

Meanwhile the airline unit would be hived off and sold to a foreign carrier. Last week the government’s privatisation leader, Mohammad Zubair Khan, mentioned Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways as possible buyers.

What has gone wrong with PIA in the past 30 years?

Mismanagement and rampant corruption have turned the airline into a white elephant, eating away the nation’s resources while posting a string of losses. With a debt burden of 276bn Pakistani rupees (Dh9.89bn), the once-prestigious carrier has become a perpetual drain on the national wallet.

In 1991, PIA posted its first loss because of the increase in fuel prices caused by the First Gulf War.

It last turned a profit in 1992, with record earnings of US$41 million on revenue of $880m.

By 2000 it was losing 11bn rupees a year. Since then, the airline’s financial health has progressively deteriorated.

The situation has reached alarming proportions. Financially and administratively, PIA has yet to tackle a plethora of problems and issues ranging from the erosion of its market position, a high fuel price, a burdened balance sheet and a ballooning debt-servicing bill to the ineffective marketing, open-sky policy, increased competition, brand damage, failure in hedging oil prices, use of old planes, overstaffing, ailing corporate culture, negative equity and organisational issues.

There are complaints of inefficiency and poor customer service. The airline has lost international stature. It no longer remains a competitive choice for tourists or business travellers, as they now prefer to travel by Emirates or Etihad.

PIA’s domestic and international flights are regularly cancelled. Pakistani media reported that a pilot delayed a New York-bound flight for more than two hours as he waited for a sandwich delivery. The poor performance and poor customer service is because of the lack of focus of PIA’s crew. Last week, a PIA air hostess was arrested in Italy after drugs were allegedly seized on her at the Milan airport. Last year, a PIA pilot was jailed in the United Kingdom for being three times over the alcohol limit before he was due to fly.

Long gone are the glory days.

PIA was Pakistan’s only airline for many years after its creation in 1955. It was the first Asian airline to operate a jet aircraft and Boeing 737 aircraft.

It is still the country’s largest airline, with 17,000 employees and a fleet of 36 aircraft – out of which 10 are grounded because of a lack of spare parts. The airline operates scheduled services to 23 domestic destinations and 30 international destinations in 27 countries across Asia, Europe and North America.

The airline is 85 per cent owned by the government, while an employees’ trust owns 8 per cent and the remained is traded on the country’s three stock exchanges.

Pakistan’s governments have manipulated PIA for political gain, giving jobs to so many supporters that the size of the workforce has become unsustainable. For example, the airline was overstaffed through appointments on political affiliation during Benazir Bhutto’s second term as prime minister (1993-1996). Under the military government of Pervez Musharraf in 2001, PIA had to deal with a ticket sales scandal costing the airline $45m a year. Successive governments did nothing but fatten the white elephant over the years through cash injections using the public’s money.

Because of the widespread corruption of its higher-ups, PIA signed controversial business deals involving kickbacks, according to the National Accountability Bureau.

In 2012, Transparency International Pakistan requested that the Chief Justice of Pakistan take notice of a host of issues prevalent in PIA such as purchase of aircraft for very high prices and a loss of 410m rupees suffered by the airline because of the cancellation of 1,200 flights between August and November in 2011.

A low point came three years ago. PIA had awarded a multibillion-dollar contract to a little-known Dubai company, Transworld Aviation, to supply spare parts. The company was unable to supply spare parts to PIA at a time when more than 109,000 Haj pilgrims were expected to travel with the airline in 2011, and PIA had to ground nine planes. The contract was cancelled only last year.

After coming into power for the third time last year following the victory of his party in elections, the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, decided to privatise PIA because the cash-strapped government could not afford to bear a monthly loss of 3.3bn rupees.

Will privatisation redeem the old glory of the national airline? The decision to privatise PIA is opposed by the political parties in the opposition and it is likely to be challenged in the court.

What PIA direly needs is an operational and financial restructuring and ruthless accountability of the corrupt managers to improve its customer service and performance.

Syed Fazl-e-Haider is a development analyst in Pakistan. His books include The Economic Development of Balochistan

Pakistan International Airways could stand a chance at regaining former glory | The National

 

[Donatello]

The thing is, if PIA ups their prices to be in line with those of Qatar, Etihad, Emirates, Turkish et al, they have to have competitive offerings which they don't.

If you're flying to Pak, if the prices are the same are you going to put your family on a PIA flight or one of the competitors?

If we haven't got any oldies with us, my family always opts for the ME airlines.

Even if PIA gave 20% cheaper fares, me or anyone in my family won't fly it. It's not just the fare, but the whole experience for that 6-13 hours flight time.
Bad food, missing blankets, non working screens, untidy lavatories and what not.

Not to mention their recent delays.

 

[razgriz19]

Incident: PIA B772 near Toronto on Dec 5th 2014, loss of cabin pressure

By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Dec 7th 2014 12:19Z, last updated Sunday, Dec 7th 2014 14:05Z


A PIA Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration AP-BGZ performing flight PK-782 from Toronto,ON (Canada) to Karachi (Pakistan), was enroute at FL330 about 220nm northeast of Toronto when the aircraft initiated an emergency descent to 10,000 feet due to the rapid loss of cabin pressure. The aircraft returned to Toronto for a safe landing about 2 hours after departure.

Following maintenance the aircraft departed again on Dec 7th but needed to return a second time, see Incident: PIA B772 near Toronto on Dec 7th 2014, cabin did not pressurize.

The loss of cabin pressure was the result of a malfunction of the pressure regulating shutoff valve. Following the second return the valve is now going to be replaced by PIA engineers flown to Toronto.