Air Blue may do Pakistan-MAN with A321

[newscaster]

From April the carrier will begin operating daily Islamabad to Manchester using their two A321 leased from ILFC, the flight will have a refuelling techstop at some Turkish destination, not Istanbul or Ankara, any idea where?

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

Adana-Sakirpasa Airport (ADA/LTAF)
Ankara - Esenboga Airport (ESB/LTAC)
Antalya Airport (AYT/LTAI)
Dalaman Airport (DLM/LTBS)
Istanbul - Atatürk Airport (IST/LTBA)
Istanbul - Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW/LTFJ)
Izmir - Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB/LTBJ)


Out of the major Turkish Airports above, I'd guess Antalya, Dalaman or Izmir if it definitely isn't Istanbual or Ankara.

[CentreFix25]

[QUOTE][/Adana-Sakirpasa Airport (ADA/LTAF)
Ankara - Esenboga Airport (ESB/LTAC)
Antalya Airport (AYT/LTAI)
Dalaman Airport (DLM/LTBS)
Istanbul - Atatürk Airport (IST/LTBA)
Istanbul - Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW/LTFJ)
Izmir - Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB/LTBJ)


Out of the major Turkish Airports above, I'd guess Antalya, Dalaman or Izmir if it definitely isn't Istanbual or Ankara.QUOTE]

Beat me to it! if their not picking up, one of the less busy airports with quick turn around times would be prudent (AYT,DLM or ADB).

[Alan Tracey]

You may find Luton will be first.....

[pwalhx]

Luton may be first but that wasn't the question, out of interest will it be purely for refuelling.

[Dr747]

here is the update on airblue's operations from www.brecorder.com
Flights to UK: Airblue waiting for CAA clearance
RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI (March 18 2006): Plans for the launching of Airblue's flights to the United Kingdom were finalised at the quarterly marketing conference of the airline, held here last week.

Airblue, Pakistan's fastest growing domestic airline, is all set to start its services to the UK as soon as it receives clearance from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Airblue Chief Operating Officer Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, inaugurating the conference, said that one of the objectives was to review the station performances, discuss flights to the UK and new products to improve international passenger travel. He underlined the importance of technology in today's world, particularly in the airline industry. Airblue's business model was based on optimum utilisation of information technology (IT) in all aspects of its operations, he said.

Abbasi said it had provided different departments with a strong management information system (MIS) that enabled the airline to achieve unprecedented results in the aviation history of Pakistan.

"In less than two years, the airlines operations have more than doubled and the fleet has increased from an initial three aircraft base to a six aircraft operation at this point of time. The fleet includes four A320s and two A321s and the management is proud to have the youngest aircraft fleet in Pakistan with an average age of eight years," he said.

Abbasi pointed out that the number of flights had increased from the initial 10 daily flights to 26 at present. The airline was operating to six cities within Pakistan and offered four daily flights to Dubai.

On the domestic sector, it had positioned itself as the airline of the first choice amongst the travelling public due to the quality product being offered, he said.

Airblue's Commercial Director Nasir Ali congratulated the marketing team on job well done in the face of stiff competition from other carriers on the domestic as well as international sector. Both the passenger body targets and revenue goals had been met during the preceding quarter and the airline was receiving a favourable feed back from the travellers, he said.

He emphasised that the quality of the total product, ie schedules, service standards and dispatch reliability, had to be sustained to ensure continued growth.

He said that Airblue was about to reach the landmark goal of transporting one-millionth passenger in its short history of less than 20 months. The fast pace growth was a front runner for Airblue's plans to launch its operations to the UK to make it the first private airline of Pakistan to operate to Europe.

General Manager Marketing Sarosh Bhatti gave a presentation on the proposed operation to the UK. An extensive market survey had been carried out by an Airblue team, which covered the areas of Manchester, Bradford, London, Birmingham, Luton and Stansted.

The conference also deliberated on a new product that is being planned, which will further enhance comfort to the passengers travelling on the international sectors to and from Pakistan.

The product is to be introduced in early April and would be a surprise offer for the international passengers. At the conclusion of the conference, the stations were assigned revenue targets for the period April-June 2006.


Copyright Business Recorder, 2006