PIA loses Lahore-Bangkok route to Thai Air

[Abbas Ali]

By Jalilur Rehman

LAHORE: The national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) is suffering heavy loss of about Rs100 millions per month due to non-operation of its Lahore-Bangkok profitable flights that have not been restored since long.

While the national flag carrier is unmoved over the Lahore- Bangkok-Lahore route the Thai International Air Lines has dominated on this profitable route ousting the PIAC.

The Thai Air is providing best service on this route whereas, the PIAC hierarchy slept in relation to revive its profitable Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore flights.

A study conducted by The News revealed that PIAC had two flights per week for Bangkok from Lahore till 2000 while the Thai Air had one flight per week.

A spokesman of the PIAC Athar told The News that the PIAC received a set-back when India stopped its airspace for Pakistan during Pakistan-India tension on the borders in the year 2000-2001.

He said while the PIAC stopped its two flights for Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore, Thai Air continued its flights. The said foreign airline, he added, not only increased its Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore flights from 2 to 4 but also managed and manoeuvred selling Thai tickets for Bangkok with the help of its Thai Consul General Office in Lahore.

The PIAC spokesman said that the PIAC also restored one flight for Bangkok but that after some time this useful and profitable flight was closed that provided an ultimate edge to the Thai Air on Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore route.

The spokesman admitted that PIAC was suffering about Rs25 millions loss in a week for Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore route while for a month the loss of revenue had been estimated about Rs100 millions.

Bangkok, the spokesman added, was a hub station for the PIAC and the PIAC had made arrangement of permanent staff there. The Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore return fair is about Rs24500/-and a rough estimates highlights heavy revenue loss of this international route that is very charming and attractive for both Thai and Pakistani citizens.

According to the PIAC spokesman from Bangkok there were connecting flights for Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Singapore. The spokesman said the great loss of revenue from this profitable route should be a matter of deep concern and considered seriously for restoration of PIAC flights for the aforesaid route.

He disclosed that though there were flights from Islamabad and Karachi to Bangkok but the most profitable, charming and busy route for the tourists had been ignored against cause of the nation. The PIAC spokesman also accused the Thai Consul General in Lahore for causing harm and dents to the national carrier against national interests and said the PIAC had reported and complained to the federal government about the unwarranted manoeuvring of the office of Thai Consul General Office in Lahore.

He admitted that revival of Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore route by the PIAC would enhance revenue generation of the national flag carrier.

When contacted, Thailand’s Honorary Consul General in the city Zia Haider Rizvi refuted the accusation of PIAC spokesman and said since Thai International Air Lines was providing best services the first choice for the passengers and tourists was Thai Air. He said the Thai had best aircrafts and its services and hospitality towards the passengers was excellent.

Source: The News

[Amaad Lone]

Once again the poor standard of journalism in Pakistan can be witnessed.

How can PIA lose money on a route when it is not operating any flights on it.

Oppurtunity loss cannot be translated into actual balance sheet loss.

Plus had PIA been operating the route and earning a REVENUE of rupees 100 million per month, that does not mean it is making 100 million rupees per month profits. After deducting costs of operating the flights the net profit on a 100 million revenue is no more then 5 to 7 million in PIA.

So declaring a loss of 100 million is stupid.

As for PIA not operating flights on Lahore-Bangkok sector, well the credit should go to the sharp minds in our marketing department, who are still operating flights to Bangkok from Islamabad via Hong Kong, while Thai has taken that business away from PIA also by operating non-stop Islamabad-Bangkok flights.

[behramjee]

8 days ago I met Mr Nayer Jamal who is PIAs Country Manager for Canada in the Toronto Subway BAY STATION.

I stopped him in his tracks and asked him if he received in the mail the 8 page "Suggestions for PIA" package that I had mailed him in the post. He acknowledged receipt and reading through it.

But he never thanked me nor complimented me for them instead his exact worded response was "yes I got them but what you have written is nothing new and PIA already knew of all these points of yours. now are you going somewhere, if not then Im in a hurry".

Now I dont know about his airline knowledge and background but what I can make of him is that for him to comment in the way that he did shows a lack of care and initiation. Because if he so says that PIA knew everything what I wrote then what the hell have they done about it? The answer is NOTHING and this article by THE NEWS proves their lack of will and initiation to improve the fortunes of the airline!

Some points of this article of TG killing PIA on the LHE-BKK route and how it can be rectified are mentioned in my suggestions to PIA viewtopic.php?t=4182

As for PIA’s Far East network, one cannot understand why PIA does not want to challenge Thai Airway’s monopoly on the LHE-Bangkok (BKK) and now ISB-BKK nonstop sectors especially since on its BKK-LHE-BKK bound flights, Thai Airways has always made a hefty profit on + had a year round load factor of over 80%. PIA only flies to BKK from ISB via HKG which makes what should be a 5 hour nonstop flight into an eight and a half hour one. My advice for PIA is to fly 4 times a week ISB-LHE-BKK with A 310s and change the HKG-Hong Kong routing to 2 weekly ISB-LHE-HKG flights flown by an A 310. From BKK, PIA can have SPA agreements with Qantas, Japan Airlines, ANA, Thai etc for regional and Australia bound flights.

[Abbas Ali]

PIA Clarifies

LAHORE: PIA has clarified a news item headlined ‘PIA loses Lahore-Bangkok route to Thai Air’ published on February 24, 2006, stating it stopped operations to Bangkok due to restrictions imposed by the Indian government.

A statement issued on Friday said PIA resumed it flights from Lahore to Bangkok twice a week through A310 aircraft when the restriction was undone.

However, the ‘conflict of interest’ on visa to Bangkok had drastically brought down number of passengers on the international carrier, which led to the suspension of operations to Bangkok, the statement said.

PIA operates to and from Bangkok for the convenience of the passengers whereas Thai Airways used Bangkok as a stopover to fly to Australia and the US, it said. The statement said the reporter did not seek a version from PIA and caused confusion between the national carrier and Thai Airways. A PIA spokesman said, he never accused the Honorary Counsel General of Thailand as mentioned by the reporter.

Source: The News (February 25, 2006)

[behramjee]

However, the ‘conflict of interest’ on visa to Bangkok had drastically brought down number of passengers on the international carrier, which led to the suspension of operations to Bangkok, the statement said.

I would like to say that this pathetic excuse is total BS on PIAs part concerning getting a Thai visa.

When India reopened its skies to Pakistan's airlines in late 2003, you could get a THAI visa in 96 hours from any of their nationwide consulates.

This changed in summer 2004 when the KHI Consulate started issuing visas to Pakistani passport holders in 48 hours guaranteed at their new location in Defence in Khadda Market near ONE POTATO TWO POTATO and Jimmys Studios. How do I know this...simple...I was in charge of selling Cathay Pacific Holiday packages to Thailand that summer and we sold a lot of packages and had the Thai visa forms at the office and had a good rapport with the local consulate officials.

Before PIA makes such hopeless statements it should look into the O&D numbers of the TG flights to KHI, LHE and ISB and see what % of the load they constitute compared to 6th freedom transitting pax.

TG in KHI too has a facility where if you're going in a big family or group, they will personally take care of the visa issuance process.