Pakistan International Airlines(History)

Karachi Lahore and Islamabad Rawalpindi,

Pakistan International Airlines commonly known as PIA or Pakistan International is the national flag carrier airline of Pakistan. It operates scheduled services to 23 domestic destinations and 30 international destinations in 27 countries across Asia Europe and North America.Its main hubs are Karachi Lahore and Islamabad Rawalpindi. Secondary hubs include Peshawar Faisalabad Quetta Sialkot and Multan. PIA has a long history of milestones in aviation such as being the first Asian airline to operate a jet aircraft and Boeing 737 aircraft. It today remains by far Pakistan's largest airline with a fleet of more than 25 airplanes and at least 10 more on order.Furthermore PIA was the launch customer to operate the Boeing 777-200LR model. PIA is currently going through a procedure of privatisation to shift management from government to private sector. It employed nearly 19,000 people as of July 2014.

History Pakistan International Airlines,

Pakistan International Airlines can trace its origins to the days when Pakistan had not yet gained independence from the British Raj. In 1946 the country's founder Muhammed Ali Jinnah realized the need for a flag carrier for the prospective country and requested financial help from a wealthy businessman Mirza Ahmad Ispahani and Adamjee Haji Dawood for this purpose. Around that time a new airline Orient Airways was registered in Calcutta on 23 October 1946. In February 1947 the airline bought three DC-3 airplanes from a company in Texas and obtained a license to fly in May of the same year. The airline started its operations in June offering services from Kolkata to Sittwe and Yangon. On 14 August 1947 Pakistan came into being and Orient Airways started relief operations for the new country. It was the first and only Muslim owned airline in India and flew from 1947 to 1955.On 7 June 1954, Orient Airways started its operations by offering flight services between East and West Pakistan with service from Karachi to Dhaka. In addition the airline also introduced two new domestic routes i.e. Karachi,Lahore,Peshawar and Karachi-Quetta,Lahore. However due to sustained losses being suffered by the airline the Government of Pakistan proposed that Orient Airways merge with a new national airline. On 11 March 1955 Orient Airways merged with the government's proposed airline becoming Pakistan International Airlines Corporation. The newly formed airline not just offered services on its domestic routes but also inaugurated its first international route Karachi,London Heathrow Airport via Cairo and Rome, using 4 newly acquired Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellations. The airline continued using DC-3s on domestic routes in Pakistan. In May 1956 PIA ordered 2 Super Lockheed Constellations of the latest L-1049H type and 5 Vickers Viscount 815.

Managing Director of PIA Air Marshal Nur Khan 1959,

The appointment of Air Marshal Nur Khan as the Managing Director of PIA in 1959 heralded an era of great successes for PIA. In March 1960 PIA wet-leased a Boeing 707 from Pan American airlines thereby becoming the first Asian airline to induct a jet-aircraft in its fleet. With the newly acquired aircraft, the airline introduced its first trans-Atlantic route Karachi-New York Idlewild via London in 1961. In 1962 it expanded its fleet by placing orders for Boeing 720s Fokker F27s and Sikorsky helicopters. In the same year, one of Boeing 720s flown by Captain Abdullah Baig flying from London to Karachi made a world record for the Speed over a commercial airline service for powered landplanes of 938.78 km/h. a record which still holds to this day. From 1962 to 1966 PIA operated its Sikorsky S-61 helicopters for services within East Pakistan. These were removed in 1966 and a reduced network of eight cities was served by Fokker F27 aircraft.Upon the establishment of ties between Pakistan Government and People's Republic of China PIA started flying to Beijing in 1964 becoming the first airline of a non-communist country flying to the People's Republic of China At the outbreak of Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 the Pakistani Armed Forces seek PIA's services for logistics and transport purposes. The Viscounts were phased out in 1966 and were replaced by 4 Hawker Siddeley Triden. The 70s decade was marked by resumption of transatlantic flights, introduction of new destinations, appointment of Nur Khan as its executive for the second term, and the beginning of financially successful period for the airline. When the political situation in East Pakistan started deteriorating in early 70s the Pakistan Army once again used PIA's services to airlift soldiers and ammunition to East Pakistan Most flights had to detour to Sri Lanka during trips between West Pakistan and East Pakistan. With the establishment of cordial ties between the Libyan and Pakistani governments in early 70s PIA added a new international route Tripoli to its map in 1972. It also signed an agreement with Yugoslav airline JAT. PIA acquired McDonnell Douglas DC-10s in 1973 and used those planes to replace Boeing 707-300s. In 1974 PIA launched Pakistan International Cargo offering air freight and cargo services. In 1975 PIA introduced new uniforms for air hostesses which were chosen through an open competition, with the winning entry designed by Sir Hardy Amies the designer of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

The later half of the decade witnessed further expansion of PIA's fleet with the introduction of Boeing 747s through either leased or purchased aircraft. During this decade airline gained considerable popularity and was regarded as Asia's best airline. For the first time since its inauguration PIA started providing technical and administrative assistance or leased aircraft to foreign airlines including Somali Airlines Philippine Airlines Air Malta and Yemenia. A subsidiary of PIA also started providing hotel management services in United Arab Emirates towards the end of the decade.The 1980s decade began with the opening of a cargo handling centre at Karachi airport duty-free shops the first C and D safety checks on its entire fleet, as well as the introduction of airline's first Airbus A300B4-203 aircraft. In 1984, the airline introduced Night,Coach service as a low-cost alternative to day-time domestic flights. In the following years PIA Planetarium was inaugurated in Karachi which was followed by planetariums in Lahore and Peshawar. These planetariums featured retired PIA aircraft on display for educational or observational purposes. Two more retired Boeing 720B airplanes were donated to the planetariums in Karachi and Lahore later on. Also in 1985, five new Boeing 737-300s airplanes were introduced in PIA's fleet, making PIA the first Asian airline with such diverse aircraft fleet. In late 1987 and early 1988 services to Malé and Toronto were introduced. In 1989 Shukria Khanam became the first woman pilot to obtain a license to fly a commercial passenger plane but never joined PIA as a pilot. A year later First Officer Maliha Sami became the first female pilot of PIA when she took off on Karachi-Panjgur-Turbat-Gwadar route.In the mid-1980s PIA also helped establish Emirates by leasing two of its airplanes - Airbus A300 and Boeing 737 - as well as providing technical and administrative assistance to the new carrier

Shaheen Air line and Shaheen Air International,

In June 1991 Airbus delivered the first of six Airbus A310-300 aircraft that PIA had ordered. AVM Farooq became the 1st MD of Shaheen Air line and Shaheen Air International as well as Shaheen Cargo and MD Shaheen Air Port services Lahore and remained so until 1993 With the new airplanes the airline introduced flights to Tashkent in 1992 and to Zürich in 1993. March 1993 AVM Farooq Umar became MD PIA and also open skies from Karachi to Dubai were declared and 12 private air lines were allowed to operate domestically in Pakistan. Both steps came simultaneously and put great pressure on PIA's financial performance. Farooq Umar to meet the challenge fought the battle of open skies and opened up 6 new routes to the Persian Gulf and CIS countries along with tourists attraction air safari. He also made major changes in routes and schedules and started non stop flights from Lahore and Islamabad to JFK and Canada along with many other to boost up PIA revenues while taking great care to thwart the menace of inadmissible passengers lurking the western world successfully. PIA added Jakarta, Fujairah, Baku and Al-Ain to its destinations in 1994. In addition PIA became a client of three different flight-reservation systems namely Sabre Galileo and Amadeus. 'Air Safari' flights were launched in 1994 using Boeing 737–300 aircraft that used to fly over the Karakoram mountain range. In 1995 1996 Farooq Umar handed over PIA to another MD March 1996 closing his tenure with great success and leaving PIA profitable with last 6 months profit of more than 55 million PKR. after his departure PIA started to nose dive. PIA purchased a Boeing 747 flight simulator to train its pilots. It also purchased another used Airbus A300 aircraft from Air France. A Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft was also leased briefly in 1996 to cope with surge in passenger traffic during summer 1996. Flights to Beirut were resumed the same year as well In July 2002 PIA purchased six Boeing 747-300 aircraft from Cathay Pacific, five of which were already on lease. The sixth one arrived shortly afterwards and was used mainly on its North American and European routes. In October 2002 after a period of ten years without any new orders, the airline placed an order for eight Boeing 777 aircraft from The Boeing Company. The order included all three variants of 777 i.e. three 777-200ER. two 777-200LR and three 777-300ER versions. PIA was the launch customer that revived the Boeing 777-200LR project that, until then, only had three orders by EVA Air Boeing delivered the first of three 777-200ER aircraft to PIA in January 2004. PIA introduced a new livery for 777-200ERs airplanes and that livery was later applied to most airplanes of its fleet. PIA also leased six more Airbus A310-300 ET planes from Airbus company directly. On 3 November 2005 PIA placed an order to purchase seven ATR42-500 aircraft from ATR to replace its aging fleet of Fokker F27 aircraft. On 6 December 2005 PIA acquired another new Boeing 777-200ER on a ten-year lease from the International Lease Finance Corporation. The aircraft was delivered in January 2007 to the airline.

From Pakistan to New York the flight stops in Manchester,

On 25 February 2006, Boeing delivered its first 777-200LR to PIA when it flew from Everett to Islamabad via Manchester. With the induction of long range aircraft in its fleet, PIA started offering non-stop flights from Toronto to Karachi Islamabad, and Lahore from 3 March 2006. PIA had also planned non-stop flights to New York, Chicago Washington and Houston but was not given permission by US authorities Only the New York flight remains and it only is nonstop on the way back to Pakistan Washington service ended in the 1990s Houston services ended in 2006 and Chicago service ended in 2012. ATR delivered two of the seven ordered airplanes by PIA in May and December 2006 respectively following which the airline ceased using military Lockheed C-130 Hercules for passenger services in northern areas of Pakistan. The military planes were being used after the PIA Flight 688 accident. On 23 December 2006 PIA took delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER. On 5 March 2007 the European Commission banned all but 9 planes of PIA's 42-plane fleet from flying to Europe citing safety concerns of its aging fleet. The ban was imposed following an on-site visit led by Federico Grandini European Commission’s Air Safety Administrator. The remaining 7 namely the fleet of Boeing 777s was exempted from the ban. PIA claimed that the ban was discriminatory and unjustifiable. On 26 March 2007 Tariq Saeed Kirmani was forced to resign after severe pressure from higher authorities because of the EU ban[citation needed]. Zafar Khan was appointed as the new chairman of Pakistan International Airlines. The ban on the eleven of thirty five aircraft was lifted after a period of four months on 5 July 2007, following another inspection by European Union's Air Safety Administration. Of the eleven aircraft, five were Boeing 747-300s and the remaining six were Airbus A310-300s. On 29 November 2007 the EU completely removed the ban and PIA's entire fleet was permitted to fly to Europe. To avoid such an incident in future PIA signed a deal to lease seven new Airbus A320-200 from Kuwait based leasing company ALAFCO. The aircraft were supposed to be delivered during 2008 and 2009 but the deal was cancelled before any delivery took place. In 2010 PIA altered their livery . They replaced the previous tail design with a much larger version of the Pakistan national flag, and have added the text Pakistan international in gold writing underneath the large billboard style PIA on the fuselage. The green stripe has also been modified to include gold and has extended to the rear of the fuselage.Most of PIA's fleet will use this livery until 2015 where their new livery will be introduced.

In February 2012 PIA ordered 5 more Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with delivery starting in 2015 which will wear a new livery. In 2014 PIA leased 4 boeing 737-800 from Travel service and Corendon airlines. PIA also published a tender for 4 Boeing 777-300ER. The airline also wanted to lease 4 ATRs. However, the bids for the 777's were not accepted due to bidding standards Later, The airline managed to lease A320 aircraft, and inducted 2 A320-214 series aircraft in its fleet, first in June and second in July 2014 with 180 all economy seating configuration but in July 2014 aircraft seating was reconfigured as 150 economy and 8 business class seats. Another wet leased A320-211 aircraft from Jordan Aviation joined PIA on August 11 2014. In October 2014 airline again wet leased three B737-8 aircraft, and it also accepted bids to dry lease five ATR 72-500 series aircraft for eight years periodHowever the order of 5 Boeing 777-300ER given in 2012, are postponed up to 2017 because of lack of funds.