PIA to Acquire up to Three Wide-body Aircraft on Dry Lease

[mac777]

i dont have values to quote. PIA is the only remaining non-stop between Pakistan and Malaysia. its being served from karachi/lahore/peshawar/? islamabad with a sizable number of pakistani workers/students/tourists/diaspora

[dreamliner99]

Though most members suggest that PIA operate new routes with the 777s, I think the priority should be to convert the LHE-ISB-PEK-NRT-PEK-ISB-LHE route to a 777. It is a high demand route, and with the Noon League government China is a priority destination. Even NL are operating flights to China. With CZ, NL and Air China already flying to China with much newer aircraft, and the ME6 offering better service, PIA is left behind. Time to up their game.

Completely agree with this. Out dated A310's don't compare to A330's operated by Air China. Although with the addition of the two ex Vietnamese 777's and maybe the ex Kenyan birds, what routes would PIA operate them on? No new destinations are being announced, wouldn't surprise me if they are going to be used domestically.

Very true! The dated A310's are not even close to the 77W's and A330's offered by other airlines. Exorbitant fares for a dated A310 too. Since no new routes have been announced till now, I suspect what you've said is true. Domestically is the way these 777's will operate, or maybe on the current Europe routes.

If the A310 must be used, it shouldn't be pushed any further than India. Or perhaps sometimes UAE. I'd like to see the A310 just bow out in style now, like Thai has done with their A300's.

I'm guessing with the introduction of Air China's new Beijing to Islamabad-Karachi route PIA will lose a fair few passengers. I'm surprised they aren't introducing new European routes or increasing frequency to London. Although I would prefer if PIA use the incoming 777's to finally replace the A310's.

[dreamliner99]

i dont have values to quote. PIA is the only remaining non-stop between Pakistan and Malaysia. its being served from karachi/lahore/peshawar/? islamabad with a sizable number of pakistani workers/students/tourists/diaspora

I believe that since the south Asian airlines no longer see Pakistan as a viable destination loads on PIA flights to China, Japan and Malyasia are pretty good. Considering the lack of competition PIA really could gain a foothold South Asia.

[Sahil Ali]

This thing has been on the table and discussed recently that these upcoming 2 + 3 777'S will be the replacement for the current 5 operational A310'S flying for PIA.

[ammad]

replacement for the current 5 operational A310'S flying for PIA.

Are you sure they are five? I think currently there are four Operational A310 in PIA's fleet. Can some body confirm this?

[ammad]

This thing has been on the table and discussed recently that these upcoming 2 + 3 777'S will be the replacement for the current 5 operational A310'S flying for PIA.

This is actually a very good idea, after recent PALPA protest and bunch of different things happening in PIA, it's not a good idea to go with either 787 or A330. But PIA should be converging diversity of fleet into just three types of Aircraft, i.e. 777, A320 and ATR's

Advantage of this approach is that, PIA will be having large pool of Pilots for same type of Equipment thus low monopoly, less time spent on crew transition and should be maintaining one less type of Simulator at PTC.

Also, Procurement of Aircraft parts, Line maintenance, Interchangeable components and shop visits should be focus on three types of Aircraft/fleet, not four, that will also be advantage.

[Abbas Ali]

Following four PIA A310s seen active in recent days:

Airbus A310-308 registration AP-BEG.
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/ap-beg

Airbus A310-324ET registration AP-BGO.
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/ap-bgo

Airbus A310-324ET registration AP-BGP.
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/ap-bgp

Airbus A310-325ET registration AP-BGR.
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/ap-bgr

Probably a fifth A310 undergoing maintenance checks at Karachi?

I think three ex-Kenyan Boeing 777-300ERs will join PIA as replacement of Boeing 747-300s phased out from PIA fleet in recent times.

A310s probably replaced with a combination of A320s and B777-200ERs.

Abbas

[Pakistan-1]

PIA should get 787s to start some Long haul routs that have too small of a demand to allow the use of the 777s 5 to 7 aircraft should be enough for this purpose

[dreamliner99]

This thing has been on the table and discussed recently that these upcoming 2 + 3 777'S will be the replacement for the current 5 operational A310'S flying for PIA.

This is actually a very good idea, after recent PALPA protest and bunch of different things happening in PIA, it's not a good idea to go with either 787 or A330. But PIA should be converging diversity of fleet into just three types of Aircraft, i.e. 777, A320 and ATR's

Advantage of this approach is that, PIA will be having large pool of Pilots for same type of Equipment thus low monopoly, less time spent on crew transition and should be maintaining one less type of Simulator at PTC.

Also, Procurement of Aircraft parts, Line maintenance, Interchangeable components and shop visits should be focus on three types of Aircraft/fleet, not four, that will also be advantage.

Only problem is that on many routes PIa would be unable to get good enough loads to justify using a 777. They must look at b787 or A330's to fill the void.

[dabi]

Totally agree with Pakistan-1 and dreamliner99. PIA definitely needs am intermediate aircraft between Boeing 777 and Airbus 320.

[Sherry3002]

You see,

The 777 is huge. The A320 very small. A310 very outdated. ATR's obviously can't fly long routes. Personally I think:

Flights to London should but can't be increased. We'd lose traffic as only 4 out of perhaps 6 flights would have a good load. PIA should be thankful that there is no BA to fly direct. With their tarnished reputation, only 4 flights are enough.

Flights to Oslo or Copenhagen don't have such a high demand as far as I know. 787s should be considered for this route. Maybe even A330's. These don't have a high enough capacity to fill the 777.

Milan and Paris have surprisingly low yields. I flew 770 and it was 80% empty in Business, probably the same in Economy. Planes larger than the A320 but smaller than the 777 are needed here.

JFK should try and be made nonstop with help of CAA. If a direct flight is offered to USA, who'd turn it down. No one wants to fly JFK-DXB then wait for a long time a day then re board, etc.

YYZ should certainly be increased. China should be linked with all 3 cities, and Japan should be direct. BKK and HKG should be resumed with A320's.

How is the load on YYZ, CPH/OSL, MXP and JFK. I know LHR is full.

[Sherry3002]

This thing has been on the table and discussed recently that these upcoming 2 + 3 777'S will be the replacement for the current 5 operational A310'S flying for PIA.

This is actually a very good idea, after recent PALPA protest and bunch of different things happening in PIA, it's not a good idea to go with either 787 or A330. But PIA should be converging diversity of fleet into just three types of Aircraft, i.e. 777, A320 and ATR's

Advantage of this approach is that, PIA will be having large pool of Pilots for same type of Equipment thus low monopoly, less time spent on crew transition and should be maintaining one less type of Simulator at PTC.

Also, Procurement of Aircraft parts, Line maintenance, Interchangeable components and shop visits should be focus on three types of Aircraft/fleet, not four, that will also be advantage.

Only problem is that on many routes PIa would be unable to get good enough loads to justify using a 777. They must look at b787 or A330's to fill the void.

Exactly.

[dreamliner99]

You see,

The 777 is huge. The A320 very small. A310 very outdated. ATR's obviously can't fly long routes. Personally I think:

Flights to London should but can't be increased. We'd lose traffic as only 4 out of perhaps 6 flights would have a good load. PIA should be thankful that there is no BA to fly direct. With their tarnished reputation, only 4 flights are enough.

Flights to Oslo or Copenhagen don't have such a high demand as far as I know. 787s should be considered for this route. Maybe even A330's. These don't have a high enough capacity to fill the 777.

Milan and Paris have surprisingly low yields. I flew 770 and it was 80% empty in Business, probably the same in Economy. Planes larger than the A320 but smaller than the 777 are needed here.

JFK should try and be made nonstop with help of CAA. If a direct flight is offered to USA, who'd turn it down. No one wants to fly JFK-DXB then wait for a long time a day then re board, etc.

YYZ should certainly be increased. China should be linked with all 3 cities, and Japan should be direct. BKK and HKG should be resumed with A320's.

How is the load on YYZ, CPH/OSL, MXP and JFK. I know LHR is full.

I've heard the loads on YYZ are really good, its seems to be a popular choice of Pakistanis. Frequency from Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore should be increased. I agree that if the CAA manage to sort out the security issues with the JFK route loads would be a lot higher for a direct flight.

Tbh I'd rather prefer flying to South Asian destinations on board an A320 rather than an out dated A310. If ipads were available on board A320's to Asian destinations such as Kuala Lumpar, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore and Tokyo. I could see these routes being very profitable.

I've always wanted to know the performance of the other central European routes such as CDG, MXP and OSLO. I can see Olso/Copenhagen being very popular since their are many Pakistanis over their.

I read somewhere a few weeks ago that LHR was a loss making route, although, I highly doubt this is true.

[CoyBoy]

They should get rid of 772 and replace them with A330 or 787.

I would have preferred PIA to be a high quality airline with smaller aircraft composed of just had three types like A332, A320 and ATR42, in large numbers which would allow them to offer more flights? the lflagship aircraft being A332 could serve just about every domestic big city provided there was demand.

[dreamliner99]

They should get rid of 772 and replace them with A330 or 787.

I would have preferred PIA to be a high quality airline with smaller aircraft composed of just had three types like A332, A320 and ATR42, in large numbers which would allow them to offer more flights? the lflagship aircraft being A332 could serve just about every domestic big city provided there was demand.

Agree with you, just a shame management didn't have the forsifht to do this. Although, I do hope they manage to convert the orders for 5 777's into an order for 787's.