Pakistan's K2 Airways targets 2020 launch

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K2 Airways (KTA, Karachi Int'l) is aiming to begin commercial flight operations in the Pakistani market this year, launching domestic services from its planned Karachi Int'l base. Headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tariq Raja, the start-up's website indicates that it is planning to serve Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam Int'l, Gwadar, Chitral, and Skardu in Pakistan.

Having secured its Operator's Licence (OL) from the Pakistani government in 2018, it had originally planned to start charter and cargo flights before moving into the scheduled sector. In January 2019, K2 Airways announced it was planning to start scheduled flights in May of that year, however, those flights did not materialise.

K2 Airways is believed to be in the process of securing its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC). To that end, the airline signed an agreement with Rusada for its ENVISION MRO and flight operations software on January 27. In addition, it is also active across various social media platforms with regards to its ongoing recruitment requirements.

ch-aviation contacted both the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and K2 Airways for comment but received no response from either.

According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Karachi is connected to 13 domestic destinations by incumbent carrier's PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Karachi Int'l), AirBlue (PA, Karachi Int'l), and Serene Air (ER, Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam Int'l). Of those 13 city pairs, no airline is currently flying from Karachi to Chitral or Skardu, both proposed routes for K2 Airways. The top three destinations in terms of weekly domestic seat capacity from Karachi are Islamabad (11,336), Lahore Int'l (8,985) and Quetta (2,064).

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