Trip Report ISB-UET PK363

[pk363]

After a few months break, I had to take this visit to Quetta to complete my irrigation project with Government of Balochistan. Could not get a seat on 29th Jan flight so was booked on PK363 on 30 Jan, departure time 10:00am. As usual there was traffic mess and the U-turn in front of parking gate was closed, forcing to go straight and turn back at road leading to Chaklala base. This left me to be dropped at the terminal at 9:10. There was a long que that overflowed out of the domestic departure entrance. Three flights to Karachi, PK, ED and Shaheen and a PK flight to UET.

Now cannot resist to say that PIA is an airline with two faces, one is of an airline that is almost bankrupt, in a bad financial stat for reasons like over staffing, corruption and political appointments at higher positions. Second face is the one across which a common passanges comes, i.e. from check in to boarding, flying, diemarking and beggage reclaim and here PIA is at par with any airline I have experience with (EK, ED, GF, LH, BMI, KLM a few to name, I found EK worst when it comes to passanger handling at checkin and tranfer at DXB).

Seeing big crowd at all checkin counters I headed to the C class checkin where a very polite lady welcomed me despite I was holding a Y ticket, she took my ticket and Awards plus card and in a few minutes got me an economy plus boarding pass for seat 22H. Departure lounge was full and noisy as it normally is at this point in time. There were about 15 announcements for PK301, followed by a PIA staff moving through the passangers shouting the call for boarding and at last 2 ground staff members asked each and every passanger in the lounge that if they are travelling to KHI on PK301, please proceed to the aircraft.

I went straight to the smoking lounge for a puff and to have a view of the aircrafts parked. Two Shaheen 732s (BHB and BHC) with a PIA 733 (flag tail) were parked on the bays just in front of the smoking lounge window. GOB layerjet (BEK) and Go Sindh were standing close to Rawal Lounge while BHI dropped in a few minutes later. In the remote bays could see BEG (operated PK 363) and a 777.

Boarding for 363 announced at 9:45am after ground staff got settled down as they made sure that every 301 passanger had left the lounge. A very fresh and nice looking airhostess welcomed us onboard and guided to designated seats. Soon after taking seat were given hot towels and served with welcome drinks. Requested for a copy of Dawn and was quickly provided with.

Push back was at 10:11am, Captain Saleem and his crew welcomed us on behalf of PIA, gave safety demo, prayed and being number 3 in takeoff que, quite and comfortable BEG was airborne in next few minutes. 5 minutes into this shorthaul flight, seatbelt signs were switched off and the cabin crew started to prepare for the service. Snacks (sandwitches, kababs and a pastery plus soft drinks) were served followed by tea/coffee, everything was fresh and tasty. Captain gave some details of the rout to Quetta that is normally over Kohat, Hangu DI Khan, Zhob then turning right to the west towards Ziarat and decsending into UET having a difficult approach, not equipped with ILS thus requiring a minimum visibility of 2700m for pilots to visually locate the runway. Captain apologized for the slight delay in departure that happened due to traffic congestion at ISB and advised to keep the seat belts fastened while seated as despite clear weather enrout and at UET turbulance was expected due to strong winds.

Landing was smooth, and as we taxied towards the terminal, a flight attendant returned our jackets. There was very little activity at UET as PK 363 was the only flight until 321 would land an hour later. PIA coach drove us to the tiny arrival hall, beggage arrival was fast and I was out of the terminal very soon.

I hope you enjoy this report, I have taken some pictures and shall post those with the report of return leg UET-ISB as need to download and select better ones.

[Abbas Ali]

Nice report, enjoyed reading it - thank you for sharing. Hope to see second part and also photos soon

Abbas

[pk363]

Thanks Abbas, here is the second part and I am emailing you the two sets of photos for posting as appropriate.

PK 324 UET-ISB 3 Feb 08

I had reservation for PK 328 for 2nd Feb, however it started with snowfall at around 8:30pm the day before and saw heavy snowfall as soon as I opened the curtains on the morining of 2nd Feb. PIA initially delayed the flight for 2 hours before cancelling it on the advise of airfield incharge PAF as despite ample light runway was declared unfit for commercial aircraft operation. After a bit of hassle and making 3 trips to the local PIA office, got a priority wait-listed seat on PK 324 for the next day.

It was still heavily overcast in Quetta on 3rd but the flight operation resumed as normal. Checked in at 15:35 for 16:30 flight, once again was upgraded to E+ as Y was overbooked. Check in was smooth and I proceeded to the departure lounge. Breathed a sigh of relief when saw the elegant BGQ parked at the apron. BCF had landed minutes earlier as 232 from DXB and was getting ready to operate 322 to LHE. Two full flights and the domestic departure lounge was crowded like a railway plattform in interior Punab. Took some photos, sipped a nice cup of tea at the tuck shop (shop keeper tried to sale me a large model of PIA747 for only Rs 1200 which I refused on grounds that I cannot carry this in cabin) and boarding was announced for PK 324. In chilling cold waited for about 3 minutes till the tranfer bus arrived after dropping the 322 pax.

It was a routine activity in cabin, towel, drink and a copy of Dawn. Captain Sherazi started engines at 16:47 and the aircraft moved at 16:50 (there are no tug cars at UET), we waited for a while before BCF passed with a sizzling sound, raised above the ground and in seconds disappeared into thick clouds. As we moved to the eatern end of runway got site of many PAF F7Ps resting under their shades. Take off was quick and as per the flight path display on screen in front of us it appeared that we have been given a direct path into ISB rather than normal path which first takes us to northwest over Kohat before turing east and descending into ISB. The flight time was reduced from 1:25hrs to a mere 55minutes due to direct route allowed.

This time it was an all male crew in E+. Snacks included chicken sandwitche, shashlic sticks, pasteries and cold and hot drinks. As soon as the crew collected the meal trays, seat belts signs switched on and Captain announced landing. There was light rain at ISB, not much activity at the apron, beggage reclaim was quick and was out of the airport at 18:05.

Once again an excellent experience with PIA, no matter what people say about them, they have been serving this nation for over 54 years now and need the support and patronage of the customers.

This is all till my next flight on 12th Feb ISB-DXB, so far I am wait listed on PK but confirmed on ED, I would wait till very end to avoid the ED one as experience shows that this 3 aircraft airline has unique problems of its own.

[Abbas Ali]

I would wait till very end to avoid the ED one as experience shows that this 3 aircraft airline has unique problems of its own.

At present AirBlue has 6 leased Airbus aircraft (3 x A320 + 3 x A321) in its fleet.

Thank you for sharing second part of the trip, enjoyed reading it and looking forward to see the photos

Abbas

[Abrardh1]

Thanks for posting, looking forward to the pics.

[ahmedshaikhani]

Nice Trip

[Abbas Ali]

Photos posted in following two topics in our 'PIA & Pakistan Aviation Photos Forum'.

Topic: PIA Islamabad to Quetta Flight - Photos by Rehan Kashif

&

Topic: PIA Quetta to Islamabad Flight - Photos by Rehan Kashif

[AP-BGL]

Beautifully written report, enjoyed reading it and wish you luck for your flight to DXB.

Look forward for another report.