Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has decided to commence a bi-weekly flight to Australia, which would reduce travelling time by one-third to and from the continent
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“If it happens, it would be happening for the first time ever,” said PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez. “We have run the feasibility, which says it would be beneficial for the airline.”
Initially, PIA plans to have two weekly flights, to and from Karachi and Lahore to Sydney. Later, flights may also be added to the Islamabad roster.
The national carrier says that if everything goes well then flights might begin in late March or early April. However, the airline is yet to get approval from the Australian aviation authority.
The direct flights would reduce the travel period to about 13 hours. Since there are no direct flights between Pakistan and Australia, it currently takes 34 to 35 hours to travel with stopovers, which increases travelling time for passengers.
PIA has worked out its plans and has already done its in-house work, however, it would depend on the Australian aviation authorities if they allow PIA and give it slots.
Recently, an international aviation firm, IATA Consultancy presented a business plan for PIA, which if implemented would see the loss-making state owned enterprise making its operations break even by 2025 and record 3.4 per cent profits the next year.
The comprehensive business plan covers the period from 2022 to 2026.
The implementation of the plan would see PIA assets going up from the current $1.196 billion to $2.183 billion by 2026.
PIA reported a loss of Rs34.6 billion in the financial year 2020.
Experts see the losses to have increased significantly in FY2021 because of the pandemic and more importantly the chain of events that ensued following the fake pilot licenses scandal, which saw Pakistani pilots ineligible to fly to US and Europe.
