Pakistan International Airlines
 

Twice weekly Karachi-Dubai-Nairobi and once weekly Islamabad-Urumqi routes are gone both got A310.

Besides dropping the above two, Athens and Istanbul have been resumed, ATH is with an A310 twice weekly Karachi-Lahore-Milan-Athens-Lahore-Karachi the other via Islamabad instead of Lahore, Istanbul is with 777-200ER once weekly Karachi-Islamabad-Istanbul-Frankfurt more frequencies will be added as slots become available.

on a slightly different note here is something from
http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?i...term=&supDate=

PIA to start Stansted 15th Aug
 

Pakistan International is to start flights to London stansted from Aug 15th.
There will be 2 weekly flights on saturday and tuesdays. On saturdays from karachi and on tuesdays from islamabad via karachi. There will also be a complimentary coach service for all passengers from stansted to the city centre.

Could usefully be merged into this thread on Stansted (including PIA operations there).

PIA to STN?
 

Does this mean they are leaving LHR? Or using STN as they cant get any more slots into LHR?

I would imagine it is due to the lack of available slots at LHR. LHR is overrun as it is.

I'm unsure of what the situation is at LGW regarding slots but I am surprised PIA didn't opt for LGW, since in recent times, LGW - Asia has expanded with EY, EK and GF, and the new service to HKG in a few months time with Oasis.

I'm a little unsure of how PIA can provide these services with the current fleet that they have? Do they have any aircraft on order? I am sure those living in the vicinity would love to see a PIA 777 arriving or departing! It would make a nice change from the hundreds of FR and EZY aircraft that STN gets day in day out!

G-RAES

Is there a large Pakistani population in North London. Could be a reason for serving STN over LGW

I know PIA have only been flying a few weeks from London Stansted but does anyone know how the STN flights are doing? Loads? Passenger interest?
Thanks

(PIA) first flight from Peshawar to Stansted Airport will leave on today. PIA is to operate once a week flight from Peshawar to Stansted via Karachi.Edited for advertising

Apologies if it's been asked previously. As PIA are now taking deliveries of the 777 aircraft, is it likely their A310 service maybe replaced with a 777 service?

Cheers,
eP

Yes..........:ok:

EU To Ban Most Pakistan Airlines Planes
 

http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1172265885.html

February 23, 2007

The European Union is set to ban most of Pakistan International Airlines' (PIA) fleet from flying to the 27 country bloc because of safety concerns, an EU source said on Friday.

The source said a committee of experts had decided to block all but seven planes of the airline's roughly 40 aircraft fleet from flying to Europe for failing to meet international safety standards.

"Only those seven will be allowed to make flights to European Union countries," the source said. "The rest of the fleet will be blacklisted."

State-run PIA declined to comment.

"We cannot comment on this until we receive an official communication from the EU," a PIA spokesman said in Karachi.

The decision is likely to come into force in about 10 days, the EU source said, once it is made official by the executive European Commission.

The source said the decision could cause disruptions to passengers because the airline had flight connections to Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands.

A Pakistani diplomat in Brussels said the airline was working to address the EU's concerns, which focused on maintenance problems and old aircraft.

"It is for the airline to take steps to alleviate the situation and they are already doing that," the diplomat said.

"I think there is a great effort by PIA and also by the European officials that passengers should not suffer too much from this," he said.

Last year the Commission banned nearly 100 airlines from operating in the bloc, targeting mostly African carriers after a spate of fatal crashes involving European passengers.

In addition, Bulgaria, which joined the EU in January, has suspended five carriers from flying to the rest of the bloc as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland until the companies achieve necessary safety standards.

Those carriers are Air Sofia, Bright Aviation Services, Heli Air Services, Skorpion Air and Vega Airlines.

The carriers are not being placed on the EU blacklist.

"The Aviation Safety Committee has expressed its satisfaction from Bulgaria's measures, due to which there are no Bulgarian airline companies included in the blacklist," the Bulgarian transport ministry said in a statement.

(Reuters)

The seven aircraft not banned I assume are the newer B777s.

Maybe this will focus their minds on keeping those in good condition too.:uhoh:

And the common aircraft type which those 5 Bulgarian operators fly in the Antonov 12. So I assume the aircraft type is just as important as the operators who are banned.

What exactly is the issue with the blacklisted aircraft? Is it poor maintanence? Because surely if they cannot look after the rest of their fleet they are hardly going to be able to look after the 777's!

The original kerfuffle was more to do with what was referred to as "cosmetic" issues by the PK brass. Apparently the EU bods were less than happy with the aircraft interiors, which were bordering on being dangerous.

methinks that there would have been a much faster response if it was engineering related. Cosmetic issues can mean a lot of stuff, such as broken seats or constantly inop khazis.

The PK aircraft do get hammered anyway, even the newer 777 fleet has suffered from the less than loving attention of Pakistani children who were trashing the IFE screens within a few days of the first ones being delivered. There have also been serious corrosion issues around the toilets of older planes, and regular infestation problems used to crop up at MAN with rats and the like.

Why should this be? The An-12, like most Russian types, is rugged and built to operate in extreme conditions. There seems no reason why, if well maintained and safely flown, the type would not be safe.

Yep - And there are still non-EU operators who are flying An-12s in the EU.

I can only assume that they are not happy with Bulgarian maintenance and safety of the An-12s or they have an EASA type issue with the An-12s since Bulgaria joined the EU in January.

It's Bulgaria who have banned the 5 operators, not the EU (not yet anyway)