Whilst the arrival of any new airline to MAN is very welcome, a 16th March commencement for a long haul route does seem very short notice, considering the official announcement was only made this month.
Hopefully Shaheen has been busy behind the scenes courting the market for the last few months, and we are not about to embark on another "Flynas" extravaganza !!
This market has the ability to fill planes very quickly. Back in the day, PIA started with a couple of weeks notice after we finally got the bilateral sorted.
PIA once operated a one-way extra because of demand and filled the return leg with 3 days notice, so I expect there has been a lot going on with the specialist travel agencies.