PIA and Turkish Airlines Sign MoU for Increased Cooperation

[asifmujahid]

PK was in the 85%-92% range for Summer: May to August.

However, if we actually want to consider how a route is doing, load factor or strong load factor is just one part of the puzzle. We can get a 100% load factor by charging $10 for a seat and a 10% load factor by charging $1000 for a seat. At some average price point in-between is actually where we start making a profit on the route and the load factor is just a result of the airline charging that price rather than being a leading indicator of profitability.

Given this context, the route has to at least cover its direct operating cost to be viable. So, it may make sense to fly the route even if it is not making a profit as long as it is covering its direct cost. This data is not available in the DOT stats. Someone from PIA will probably have access to that financial data to better let us know how the route is doing.

[Yazi747]

i am just watching geo news and there is a news as well as slide that PIA decided to sell its europe and american routes to turkish airline. PIA will only fly to turkey and from there turkish aircrafts will take the load. very surprising?????? so its mean no direct flights from uk to pakistan???? can someone confirm news??? not a good news.

[Zulfiqar]

^^
I guess you mean USA to Pakistan.
We need to wait for an official announcement.

[ammad]

By doing this PIA will loose lots of its PAX as Change Plane +Transit time at IST have no adavantage over Change of Aircraft at DXB or AUH.

[pakistan712]

PIA inks deal to sell US, Europe routes
Updated at: 0801 PST, Thursday, January 06, 2011
NEW YORK: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has signed deal to sell its routes to US and Europe, apparently due to shortage of airplanes, Geo News reported.

Sources were of the view that as per agreement, PIA airbuses, on all incoming and outgoing routes, will fly as far as Turkey, from where, Turkish airplanes will fly till US and Europe with PIA passengers on board.

The deal will be effective from March 2011 while the agreement will be made public within some weeks.

Sources also said that new PIA flights will be started for Houston, US, in order to send people message that PIA is still in operation on US routes.

PIA airbuses being used for US routes now, will then be operated on routes to Beijing and Sydney, sources claimed.

Even PIA’s MD Captain Haroon flew on Turkish airline for US journey, sources claimed further

http://geo.tv/1-6-2011/76859.htm

[SalamPaks]

PIA inks deal to sell US, Europe routes
Updated at: 0801 PST, Thursday, January 06, 2011
NEW YORK: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has signed deal to sell its routes to US and Europe, apparently due to shortage of airplanes, Geo News reported.

Sources were of the view that as per agreement, PIA airbuses, on all incoming and outgoing routes, will fly as far as Turkey, from where, Turkish airplanes will fly till US and Europe with PIA passengers on board.

The deal will be effective from March 2011 while the agreement will be made public within some weeks.

Sources also said that new PIA flights will be started for Houston, US, in order to send people message that PIA is still in operation on US routes.

PIA airbuses being used for US routes now, will then be operated on routes to Beijing and Sydney, sources claimed.

Even PIA’s MD Captain Haroon flew on Turkish airline for US journey, sources claimed further

http://geo.tv/1-6-2011/76859.htm

Obviously, I know nothing about this deal other than what I have read here, but it sounds like PK and TK are inking what could be a profit sharing agreement. It also sounds like PK, as the lesser partner in this agreement might begin flying PAK-IST-IAH, a north american city not currently served by TK. Whatever they have agreed to, I certainly hope it is in the long term interest of PIA, Pakistan and the traveling public.

[Jacobin777]

By doing this PIA will loose lots of its PAX as Change Plane +Transit time at IST have no adavantage over Change of Aircraft at DXB or AUH.

PK will get killed on this deal......the "aunties", "uncles", "chaachis" and "chachaas" will simply stop flying PK to USofA if this is to happen.

PIA inks deal to sell US, Europe routes
Updated at: 0801 PST, Thursday, January 06, 2011
NEW YORK: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has signed deal to sell its routes to US and Europe, apparently due to shortage of airplanes, Geo News reported.

Sources were of the view that as per agreement, PIA airbuses, on all incoming and outgoing routes, will fly as far as Turkey, from where, Turkish airplanes will fly till US and Europe with PIA passengers on board.

The deal will be effective from March 2011 while the agreement will be made public within some weeks.

Sources also said that new PIA flights will be started for Houston, US, in order to send people message that PIA is still in operation on US routes.

PIA airbuses being used for US routes now, will then be operated on routes to Beijing and Sydney, sources claimed.

Even PIA’s MD Captain Haroon flew on Turkish airline for US journey, sources claimed further

http://geo.tv/1-6-2011/76859.htm

"Sell its routes"? What routes are there to "sell"? Aviation agreements between Pakistan/United States and Turkey/United States are completely different. Maybe the media is referring to some kind of JV/ATI.

Second, PK doesn't fly any "Airbuses" to the United States(it could be the Geo article is getting its planes confused). If PK doesn't have enough planes to fly to the US then why is it going to start a new route such as Sydney and restart IAH? Not only that, even if PK flies to Sydney nonstop and to IAH , it would be the same as flying to JFK and ORD in terms of the planes needed (maybe the frequencies would be less, but by what-1x/weekly SYD and 2x/weekly IAH isn't going to cut it).

What's going to happen to the Pakistan-Canada flight? Cut as well?

The article just makes no sense one bit.

I want to hear EXACTLY from PK what they are planning to do.

Personally, my belief is PK might cut ORD but will leave JFK and YYZ and will have extensive codeshare with TK on routes to the U.S.

[baberblues]

On PK's website the schedule is showing that the last service to JFK would be around the middle of march 2011, slightly worrying
however the ORD flights are showing to operate till december 2011,

[Abbas Ali]

PIA to Provide Daily Link to Over 100 International Destinations Under a Joint Venture Commercial Arrangement with Turkish Airlines

Lahore, January 6, 2011: PIA to provide daily link to over 100 international destinations from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad under a joint venture commercial arrangement with Turkish Airlines. PIA Spokesman said here on Thursday.

The Pakistani passengers have been demanding that PIA should provide daily flights to all presently operated international destinations and also link other major cities of the world with Pakistan. This is not possible because of the limitations of fleet and insufficient traffic for operating daily flights.

PIA has therefore, in the interest of Pakistani passengers, evaluated the possibility of providing daily flights from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad each to about 100 international destinations under a joint venture commercial arrangement with Turkish Airlines; which has a large fleet of 151 passenger aircraft and plans to increase its fleet up to 200 aircraft by end 2011.Turkish Airlines has 05 dedicated freighter planes and 6th plane is on order. It has been a member of the prestigious Star Alliance network since 1st April 2008. The airline serves 167 destinations (128 international and 39 domestic).

He further said that the News appearing in a section of Media are ill founded and not based on facts. PIA will continue operating to USA, UK, France, Norway, Denmark and some of the remaining European destinations. However, minor adjustments in frequencies will be required to make the joint venture operation economically viable for PIA.

This, he said may result in reducing international destinations served by PIA by 2-3. However, to ensure that PIA passengers are well looked after and have the same homely feeling , it has been decided that PIA Cabin Crew will be on board Turkish Airlines flights under code share arrangements to many destinations being served by PIA. The passengers will also be provided Pakistani Newspapers, food and in-flight entertainment to their tastes.

The Spokesman further added that this arrangement is agreed in principal but its implementation is subject to approvals of regulatory authorities and the Board of Directors’ and shall be implemented only after finalization of detailed agreement and integration of I.T systems.

Through this arrangement PIA will be able to offer daily connectivity to the world, which would be better than the services / frequencies offered by the Mega Carriers of Gulf region. Istanbul is a leisure/ tourist city and Pakistani passengers would be offered special tour packages in case they plan to take an en route stop over. It may be noted here that all passengers travelling with onward visa can acquire entry visa on arrival at Istanbul. This facility is not available at any en route point.

PIA hopes that the plan would be implemented by the start of summer schedule i.e. end of March 2011. PIA spokesman concluded.

Source: PIA Press Release

[asifmujahid]

TK has IAD, JFK, LAX, ORD and YYZ from IST. JFK is twice daily and ORD is daily.

[KHI747]

If this deal actually goes through,i think this is the smartest thing ever done by PIA in a very very long time.Its a bold move which makes alot of sense as it addresses the single biggest reason for failure in PK's international long haul network - low frequencies. For the life of me i couldnt ever figure out the logic behind offering their standard 2 x weekly services.That way they can almost never maintain higher yielding business traffic which is so crucial for commercial Airlines.

In addition to solving the low frequency issue,it also brings just about the whole of Europe to a 1-stop/1-changeover destination from KHI,ISB and LHE.

Very good thinking PK, must commend and it will be interesting to followup on this to see how it progresses (or doesnt).

I really hope the deal goes through.

[JIAP]

Slightly off topic but will on arrival visa's for Pakistanis be free of cost or will they cost money like UAE or other countries Visa's?

In addition to solving the low frequency issue,it also brings just about the whole of Europe to a 1-stop/1-changeover destination from KHI,ISB and LHE.

Isn't that what all gulf carriers offer too so what difference would it make? This would destroy the market that PK had for those passengers wanting to avoid stop overs and have direct flights or atleast ones where they didn't have to deplane and stuff

[ammad]

Personally i want to see outcome of this move. This may turn out to be good deal and in return PIA should take all Far east bound PAX from IST- VIA KHI or even may go further by offering service to Australia.

JFK flights are Full but cost to operate them are really high too. And extra security procedure and stopover makes things even more difficuilt.

One Stop option to LAX- IAD have certainly worth.

[asifmujahid]

I don't think this is a bad idea. NW had a similar JV with KL for European routes. NW would codeshare with KL for all destinations in Europe. Was a very good win-win for both airlines. And at the end of the day, passengers did not mind making the one-stop to get to Europe because there were a host of other benefits being offered to make up for this supposed inconvenience such as integration of frequent flyer miles and KL marketing programs being extended to NW customers and vice versa.

The one major issue when this JV was being implemented was to ensure that seat availability showed up real-time in both KL and NW reservation systems for a seamless passenger booking to take place. This is one major issue PIA will also face - I am sure they are aware of it.

[cashy]

explaination by PIA representative, discussing issues of kick backs & lack of aircrafts
watch 3:45 minutes onward


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS_KxW6-naw