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Since
1954, PIA has flown many popular and famous passenger aircraft
types. These aircraft include Lockheed L-1049 Super
Constellation, DC-3 Dakota, Convair CV-240, Vickers Viscount
815, Boeing 707, Boeing 720, Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident 1E, McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
and Fokker F-27 Friendship
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Lockheed L-100-382B-4C Hercules (Abbas
Ali
Collection) |
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This photo shows
Lockheed L-100-382B-4C Hercules (AP-AUU) sporting
PIA logo during a
pre-delivery test flight in USA. Two brand new Lockheed L-100s -
first one registered as AP-AUT and second one as AP-AUU - were
operated by PIA for a very brief period of time after their
delivery to the airline in 1966 and later same year these two
transport aircraft were transferred to Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
AP-AUT received serial# 64144 and and is still in service with
PAF. AP-AUU received air force serial# 64145 but unfortunately
met a tragic end when in 1968, during a supply mission attempt,
it disintegrated
in severe turbulence over Pakistan's Karakoram mountains region |
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Convair CV-240 (Copyright
© PIA) |
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Artist's impression of Convair CV-240 (AP-AEH) in 1950s PIA
livery. AP-AEH was one of two Convair CV-240 aircraft of Orient
Airways that became part of PIA fleet after Orient Airways
merged into PIA in March 1955. Later, in 1956, PIA added two
more Convair CV-240 aircraft in its fleet. The Convair CV-240
remained in service with PIA for three years from 1955 to 1958.
PIA operated Convair CV-240 on Karachi to Dacca flight that
included stopovers in Lahore and Delhi. In 1958, PIA lost one of
its Convair CV-240 aircraft which crashed in Delhi. In 1959, PIA
placed order for a fleet of brand new Fokker F-27 Friendship
turboprop aircraft and the order agreement also included
transfer of PIA's remaining three Convair CV-240 aircraft to
Fokker Company |
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Vickers Viscount 815 (Copyright
© PIA) |
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This photo shows PIA Vickers Viscount 815 (AP-AJF) named "City
of Karachi". In May 1956, PIA placed order for three Vickers
Viscount 815 aircraft. First of these aircraft was delivered to
PIA on January 2, 1959. Later two more Vickers Viscount aircraft
were ordered by PIA and the aircraft type remained in service
with the airline for ten years from 1956 to 1966. Vickers
Viscount was PIA's first turboprop aircraft and it was
introduced on Karachi to Delhi flight on January 31, 1959. PIA
lost two of its Viscount aircraft in accidents in 1959.
On September 7, 1961, PIA introduced a daily Night Coach service
with a 30 percent fare reduction between Karachi and Lahore.
Operated by the Viscount, these services were all-tourist with a
high-density configuration of 64 seats. One-way fare between
Karachi and Lahore was Rs. 110/- and the round-trip fare Rs.
198/- as against the normal fares of Rs. 160/- and Rs. 288/-
respectively. No meals or refreshments were served on board and
free baggage allowance on these services was fixed at 30lbs per
passenger.
In 1963, PIA's inaugural flight to Kabul was operated with Viscount. PIA
also achieved 9 hours per day world's highest utilization rate for
Viscount in 1963. The Viscount performed very well on PIA's
short haul flights and its comfortable flight and bigger cabin
windows were admired by passengers.
Due to growth in passenger
load, in 1964, PIA placed order for
Hawker Siddeley HS.121
Trident IE-103
tri-jet aircraft to replace Viscount. The Trident order
agreement included transfer of PIA's remaining three Viscount
aircraft to Hawker Siddeley. Under the agreement these three
Viscount aircraft were leased back to PIA from 1964 till the
delivery of three Trident aircraft in 1966 |
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Mil Mi-17 (Copyright
© PIA) |
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Registered in
Uzbekistan as UK27089 a
Mil Mi-17 helicopter is seen in PIA livery in this photo taken
at Abbottabad in 1995. In July 1995, PIA commenced its
helicopter operation with a pair of leased Mi-17 helicopters
which were based at Islamabad International Airport. The
inaugural flight originated from Islamabad to the hilly summer
resort Abbottabad, in the Hazara district. The 20 minute
adventure over the lush green dales and valleys of this region
was a speedy, safe, smooth and exhilarating experience. Later,
the 24-seater PIA Mi-17 for the first time operated commercial
flight between Abbottabad and Peshawar. The daily Islamabad-Abbottabad-Peshawar
flight, with thrills and chills of low flying between 12,000
feet and 18,000 feet, over scenic areas of Hazara, Tarbela Dam
and Jehangira, took about 45 minutes.
PIA Mi-17 helicopter
scheduled flights were operated to Abbottabad, Bhurban, Sialkot
and Peshawar. Helicopter was also available for charter service
to Shogran, Kalam, Naran and Chitral |
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