Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be making regular appearances in Turkey again with flights set to resume to Istanbul Airport in a few weeks. Airline officials expect the flights to increase revenue after the carrier's turbulent past two years.
Last month, PIA shared that it would restart flights on November 14th, but the carrier has since updated the restart date to November 15th. According to reports, a PIA spokesperson said the carrier will resume service to Turkey in two phases.
Six flights, roughly 1,000 seats weekly
The first phase will be weekly Istanbul-bound flights from PIA’s secondary hubs: Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore and Islamabad International Airport. Two flights will operate from Lahore, and four flights will operate from Islamabad, respectively, according to the spokesperson.
The airline plans to use its Airbus A320 aircraft for the flights. According to SeatGuru, PIA has two configurations of its A320. One version features eight business class seats with 150 economy class seats. The other features an entire cabin of economy class with 180 seats. At six flights per week, the airline has the capability of offering a maximum of 1,080 seats to Istanbul.
The second phase will be Istanbul flights from the carrier’s main hub, Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. A starting date for the second phase of service or aircraft type to operate the route has yet to be confirmed by the airline.
An affiliation that goes a long way
The announcement comes as Pakistan and Turkey celebrate 75 years of international relations. PIA tweeted on October 28th that its flights to Istanbul will allow passengers to connect to more than 20 other cities around the globe with the help of its partnership with Turkish Airlines.
PIA’s codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines offers mutual benefits. Turkish Airlines is able to continue to fill seats on its flights, while PIA can get the attention of Pakistani passengers with an expanded network.
Moving on from the past
More importantly, the agreement helps PIA as the carrier tries to rebuild its reputation following a deadly crash two years ago that ultimately led to the revelation of a pilot scandal.
In June 2020, the Pakistani government revealed that 262 Pakistani pilots were flying with fake licenses. The incident saw the airline banned from flying to Europe for six months initially, but this has been extended indefinitely. In hopes of returning to Europe soon, PIA has subleased its slots at London Heathrow Airport, offering a handful of them to Turkish Airlines.
The pilot scandal also affected PIA to have a presence in the United States. After the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) implemented the ban on the carrier, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US followed suit with a similar restriction.
The FAA downgraded PIA to a category 2 safety rating in July 2020 that prohibited the airline from forming any codeshare agreements with any US-based carrier or establishing new destinations in the US. With no existing flights to the US prior to the downgrade, PIA is unable to land on US soil.
Thanks to Turkish Airlines, PIA can still offer US destinations in its network, a strategy that could increase passenger traffic.
Source: Business Recorder; Ary News; SeatGuru