PK 709 cancelled

[Aer Pakistan]

donot understand why not PIA put A310 on these flight s. it look like big game is going on just like happen in late 1990's. when PIA was doing well with full load from BHX and that time DMD shut down BHX for few month and get % from middleast carrries.

[proudpaki732]

Canceling a flight due to poor loads is very unprofessional, i feel for those 100 people who show up at the airport and find out their flight has been canceled because the airline thinks they can just leave 100 people hanging for 2 extra days to fill up flights. PIA is what's hurting itself, Emirates would never cancel a flight that customers already paid for and were ready to go. Last September my dad traveled from JFK to LHE via DXB and he said the economy class was empty, had like 40/50 people on it but Emirates still operated its flight. I understand Emirates can lose some profit without being hurt but its shameful for PIA to pull such an act. Good thing i stopped traveling on PIA last summer after a horrible flight which made me late for 12 hours and with no apology from PIA.

[pakistan712]

i agree with t. kaay all PIA has to do is put tickets on sale for example if a round trip ticket from JFK LHE JFK is $1500 on Etihad and Emirates, PIA needs to sell there tickets for $1450. PIA will be filling there planes like crazy. people especially pakistanis would do anything to save $50. this would be true competition

[fly1346]

well this is what happens when Zardari puts his drinking buddy as the MD of PIA. Have you ever heard of a bus driver becoming president of the company... only in Pakistan could a pilot end up as the MD of an airline.... this airline is going in a downward spiral, wouldnt be surprised if it no longer existed in a few years.

Very sad to see this happen, breaks your heart, especially when you remember the good days, (for me it was in the late 90's seeing the Pashmina tailed Jumbos at JFK!)

[t_kaay]

well this is what happens when Zardari puts his drinking buddy as the MD of PIA. Have you ever heard of a bus driver becoming president of the company... only in Pakistan could a pilot end up as the MD of an airline.... this airline is going in a downward spiral, wouldnt be surprised if it no longer existed in a few years.

Very sad to see this happen, breaks your heart, especially when you remember the good days, (for me it was in the late 90's seeing the Pashmina tailed Jumbos at JFK!)

I don't know anything about the MD of PIA but I am pretty convinced that surely the problem cannot be the fault of just one man?? Surely an airline of this size has various management teams and a team somewhere within the organisation is responsible for trying to get aircraft full by any means possible.....even the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair can give away seats and still make money....in the summer holidays you can't get a seat to Pakistan due to high loads, in the quiet months they need to offset this by reducing prices. Like Pakistan712 says, most customers would jump at the chance of a saving.

Out of interest, does anyone here have a breakdown of the airlines cost for a flight from MAN - ISB? Lets say fuel, landing charges, salaries, etc. Would be useful to see exactly what the bare minimum fare could be for this flight to be fully laden and still be able to operate at no loss.

Not sure how many seats PIA's 777 have, but if we say 300....the fare is showing on PIA website as £463 one way...lets even say you buy this from an agent for £450.....thats a total projected income of £135000 ($220,914). This figure is the best case secnario (for PIA) as it is for single fares. A return fare is showing as £706, which equates to £350 each way.

So, what are the costs for PIA to run this flight???

[Amaad Lone]

My wife and kids just flew to Toronto last week on Emirates.

I paid 283,000 (around $3,500) for 3 economy tickets, while PIA was costing me 330,000 ($4,125).

I saved around 50,000 for 3 tickets, and my kids got to fly on the A380 from Dubai to Toronto.

Win win situation for me.

Lose lose for PIA.

[Aer Pakistan]

today i check with travel agent fare for Lohare on PK is £795 where EK and EY offering for £545. and then PIA cancelling there flight who wants to pay extra two hundreds pounds when they are not sure even flight will operate.

i think its time to say go PIA md go

[zz]

today i check with travel agent fare for Lohare on PK is £795 where EK and EY offering for £545. and then PIA cancelling there flight who wants to pay extra two hundreds pounds when they are not sure even flight will operate.

i think its time to say go PIA md go

proves my point.

[uetflyer]

It's not so long ago that several forum members were describing PIA as a 5 star airline....

Whereas in actuality it acts like a bus service, it only goes when it is full.

It seems only to want to serve Pak pax. Very few forgeiners choose to fly PIA, the reasons are poor image, non-availability of alcohol, poor reliability, and no through ticketing. As we see now, it is an expensive option as well.

As far as I know, no public report has been made about the Lahore crash,,,which adds further concerns of maintainance or pilot training.

[baberblues]

Yeah i got my GLA-LHE ticket for £749 EK gives you £603 , i think its better PK had started EDI rather than GLA.

[t_kaay]

It seems only to want to serve Pak pax. Very few forgeiners choose to fly PIA, the reasons are poor image, non-availability of alcohol, poor reliability, and no through ticketing. As we see now, it is an expensive option as well.

If you think that overseas Pakistanis are happy with PIA you are wrong. It isn't just foreigners that don't want to fly with them. I would rather fly with someone else given the choice and i do so now, because of the cheaper costs. I am going with Airblue in Sept, saving myself about £200. I get the same baggage allowance and the timings leaving and arriving at both ends is much better. Yes I have to stop at Trabzon, but I love flying so this is an advantage, as are Emirates flights

The problem we have though are that PIA have so many flights from allover the UK and that a lot of their passengers need to go at short notice for deaths etc and they end up having no choice but to pay the high fares. PIA will be well aware of this and I feel it is pretty sad that our National carrier gives no incentive for us to visit Pakistan apart from emergencies. In my previous post I mentioned how western carriers can offer return trips to USA for about £200. These western carriers know that if they don't attract families then people will go elsewhere to other destinations. PIA know we have to go to Pakistan to visit family there. They know we have little choice sometimes, due to EK and Airblue being full (low prices mean the seats go quickly).

@baberblues.....you bought a ticket for £749 yet EK was £603....so why go with PIA if you don't mind me asking? Even getting a train to MAN to get EK would work out cheaper??

[pakistan712]

i was blaming Gulf Carriers for stealing PIA business but i never til now realized how expensive PIA tickets really are. it not Gulf Carriers fault PIA brought it on themselves. PIA is way beyond competiton, with prices like theres soon there will be no PIA. All they have to do is compare there prices with there competition and pakistani would love to fly there national flag carrier. this is not rocket science i don't know how we outsiders who have no experience in the airline industry can come up with these great ideas and the management controlling PIA has no clue what there doing. that ashame. maybe the Gov't should put foreigners in charge of the airline and fire every pakistani working in the airline. i don't know how the MD doesn't realise all he has to do is lower the prices and compare them with other airlines.

[t_kaay]

you are right it isn't rocket science and you don't even have to be related to aviation to figure it out...its just the basics of business and supply and demand...there isn't much demand because the price is way too high...lower your price and the demand will surface. Planes will be full all year round and everyone wins..

[baberblues]

Ahhh T_kaay the fact was EK was completely filled up for the summer, i needed to get a seat, and PK so i had to pay a high fare, i know i could of gotton to manchester and flew from there, but GLA is closer,

[Moin]

PIA is canceling flights in the height of the peak season due to poor loads??? I tried to change the date of my return flight from LHR to KHI with QR and the only other seat I was getting was for the 11th of July with an 8 hour transit time in DOH and no other seats were available till end of August. I kept my original booking.

In stark contrast to the above PIA is canceling flights due to low or no loads. I don't think PIA's higher fare is solely to blame for this. It looks like someone in the airline is 'selling' off their pax to other airlines for some under the table commissions.