PIA considering to start round-the-world flight: Kirmani

[Abbas Ali]

ISLAMABAD, Mar 24 (APP): Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is considering to start round-the-world flight from the next year, said Chairman of the airline Tariq Kirmani.

Talking to reporters at the arrival of the maiden non-stop flight of PIA from New york (USA) here Friday, he said, the route of the new flight would be Karachi, Shanghai, Toronto, Los Angles and Islamabad or Lahore or Karachi. “This would be first ever round the world flight by PIA,” he said.

He said the PIA is all set to compete at the world level with the induction of 12 aircraft of 777 series of Boeing and 7 Turbo Prop ATR aircraft, besides improving the service and care to the customers.

He said PIA today inducted second 777-200LR aircraft which is the second of the series while the airline has already received three aircraft of 777-200ER series.

The Chairman said two more aircraft of 777-200LR while 5 of 777 would be handed over to PIA in next two years. He said eight of these aircraft have been bought for US $ 1.2 billion while four are being acquired on lease basis.

The induction of 777 series aircraft, he said, will not only help improve the image of PIA but also help reduce the fuel consumption to 28 % per seat as compared to the existing 747 series aircraft.

Answering a question, would PIA transfer the impact of savings to the customer, Kirmani said, since PIA being the world class airline, it has to maintain the competitive fares. “We are in competition with other airlines so we need to keep our fares according to the international market,” he said.

He said in the past the ratio of complaints through on-board “comments cards” of PIA was 46 % while this has been reduced to 22 to 24 % out of the 1800 entries of the comments cards. He said the number of filling up on-board comments cards has been considerably increased by the passengers as majority of the 76 % to 78 % carry appreciative remarks for the airline.

In reply to another question, he said, the airline is taking care of its employees whether on contract or regular basis.

The Senior Vice President of Boeing Company, who also travelled in the same aircraft on the occasion told that Boeing has already in the agreement with Pakistan for manufacture of some parts of its aircraft which are being produced matching to the world standards but on comparatively cheaper rates.

He said more vistas are required to be looked into to further the cooperation in the sector.

A large number of senior officers of PIA including District manager PIA Islamabad, Khurram Mushtaq were present at the airport to receive the second aircraft of 777-200LR carrying 68 passengers from New York.

This aircraft covered the distance in 14 hours, non-stop from New York to Islamabad.

On February 26, the airline had received first aircraft of the LR series which was the fourth of 777 series.

Source: Associated Press of Pakistan

[PIAinORD]

This flight will NOT make money and will be a severe loss for PIA. They should work on solidifying their North American route structure by inducting the PVG-LAX flight at least 3x a week, and push for more frequencies as there is money to be made on this sector.

[smarties]

KHI-ISB-PVG-LAX-MAN-ISB-KHI seems an intersting round the world route.

[sadiqhassan]

The RTW route would have to go both ways (eastbound and westbound) otherwise PIA is sunk. If they do something like KHI-ISB-PVG-LAX-MAN-ISB-KHI, and I lived in PVG and bought a return ticket to Karachi, I would have to fly PVG-LAX-MAN-ISB-KHI-ISB-PVG which would not be fun.

If PIA also flew KHI-ISB-MAN-LAX-PVG-ISB-KHI however, someone in PVG could fly PVG-ISB-KHI-ISB-PVG.


Cheers

[smarties]

If PIA also flew KHI-ISB-MAN-LAX-PVG-ISB-KHI however, someone in PVG could fly PVG-ISB-KHI-ISB-PVG.

Yeah they could this flight 1 a week which you have mentioned above, and the other flight could be "the other way round" KHI-ISB-PVG-LAX-MAN-ISB-KHI. So if they do these flights twice a week, PVG pax would be sorted, and everyone would be sorted! Imagine the publicity PIA would get for the "round the world flight" Something else to add to their historic firsts list!

[behramjee]

Talking to reporters at the arrival of the maiden non-stop flight of PIA from New york (USA) here Friday, he said, the route of the new flight would be Karachi, Shanghai, Toronto, Los Angles and Islamabad or Lahore or Karachi. “This would be first ever round the world flight by PIA,” he said.

You guys forgot about the TORONTO in between which if you follow Mr Kirmani's announcement would mean a flight which has a routing of KHI-ISB-PVG-LAX-YYZ-MAN-ISB-KHI with no traffic rights on LAX-YYZ and YYZ-MAN sectors!!! therefore a loss making flight big time

yes as mentioned earlier in this topic thread the ideal scenario would be KHI-ISB-PVG-LAX-MAN-ISB-KHI using the B 772ER. No need for the LR on this route...the ER can handle it just fine

It will surely generate a lot of good publicity for PIA but the key questions are :

can PIA market it properly?

can they make it work?

and most of all will someone take the much needed initiative to make such a route a reality

[sadiqhassan]

You guys forgot about the TORONTO in between which if you follow Mr Kirmani's announcement would mean a flight which has a routing of KHI-ISB-PVG-LAX-YYZ-MAN-ISB-KHI with no traffic rights on LAX-YYZ and YYZ-MAN sectors!!! therefore a loss making flight big time

If they could get traffic rights for YYZ-LAX and YYZ-MAN, I would probably pay a little more to use them, if they fit me schedule.

Cheers

[Jacobin777]

This flight will NOT make money and will be a severe loss for PIA. They should work on solidifying their North American route structure by inducting the PVG-LAX flight at least 3x a week, and push for more frequencies as there is money to be made on this sector.

they can even do LAX-MAN-KHI/ISB/LHE...as some or all of their YYZ/JFK-MAN feeds have ended....

Their -200ER's would be perfect for this route....

[shazad_inayat]

Why not sinply start PAK-PVG-LAX and then code share from LAX to new york with one of the local US airlines.

[AirBlue]

The ER can fly the PVG-LAX route ???

[sadiqhassan]

The ER can fly the PVG-LAX route ???

it's only 5600nm miles or so. http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=PVG- ... MAP-STYLE=

The 77B has a range of 6000-7000nm. If PK's 77B's have a range of only 6,000 miles, thats cutting it. Otherwise, it should be possible.

Cheers

[AirBlue]

if you are an aviation enthusiast thats like a perfect flight for u if u fly from KHI-MAN

KHI-ISB-PVG-LAX-YYZ-MAN