Delivery of Dry Leased Airbus A320s to PIA to Begin in June

[A310]

Three questions.
1. When is it expected that these A-320s will operate to Skardu.

These A320s will never fly to Skardu.

[faiq]

But why.. Any good reason??

[Abbas Ali]

I think technically it's possible to operate Airbus A320 family aircraft to/from Skardu.

Abbas

[faiq]

Same here I dont think there should be any problem in Skardu operations. In my opinion in addition to daily ISB-KDU flights they can think of working on 2X or 3X weekly from Lahore and Karachi. Many people from Baltistan work and study in these two metropolitans along with many tourists who might be interested in flying directly and saving money and time.

[Abbas Ali]

The second dry leased PIA Airbus A320-214 taking rest at Benazir Bhutto International Air Port (BBIAP) - Islamabad after completing its ferry flight from Shanghai, China, on July 26.




Passenger cabin.


Cockpit.

The third dry leased A320 will join PIA fleet in the month of October, according to statement given by airline's chairman today.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Note difference in shape/position of star & crescent on engine covers of first two dry leased PIA A320s.


Star & crescent on engine cover of first dry leased A320.


Star & crescent on engine cover of second dry leased A320.

Abbas

[faiq]

Lol chinese paint job . Any thing can be expected.

[Umair]

Btw this a/c has been registered in Pakistan as AP-BLD.

[Abbas Ali]

Registration on cockpit panel also looks like AP-BLD.



Abbas

[Umair]

Registration on cockpit panel also looks like AP-BLD.



Abbas

Yes Abbas, my friend travelling on PK785 today from ISB to LHR, said that he saw the a/c with registration marks as AP-BLD.

[Abbas Ali]

^ Thank you Umair for the info.

PTV News footage of the A320 also showed these two PIA Boeing 777s at Islamabad and probably one of them was getting ready as flight PK-785 to London.



Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Second Airbus A320-214 (former registration B-6016) acquired on dry lease by PIA is confirmed registered in Pakistan as AP-BLB in Dunya News report.

Visible on nose gear door is 'LB' of aircraft registration AP-BLB.



Abbas

[Umair]

My bad.... Btw looking forward to see pics of these new narrow-bodies at different airports.

[Abbas Ali]

According to Chairman PIA, the second A320 (AP-BLB) is currently configured to carry 180 passengers in all-economy class layout.

Aircraft configuration will be changed to accommodate 20 business class passengers.

Abbas

[Charliedelta11]

Silly decision to change it to econ and business class. They should stick to pure econ only. Maybe leave 2 or 3 at best in a 2 class config, if they plan or ever getting more A320s, but the rest IMHO should be single class only.