PIA closing down three more European destinations after New York, reporting losing $8 billion
After closing down New York route, Pakistan International Airlines is planning to close down three more European destinations., Barcelona, Milan and Paris. PIA had already suspended flights to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Bradford, Glasgow Chicago, Moscow and Istanbul.
The airline reported a staggering $8 billion in losses a year due to tough competition from three major Gulf carriers. According to PIA, the Gulf carriers have been taking away almost 50% passenger load in International routes. The closer of further destinations will definitely benefit Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airlines as these three airlines have a strong footing in Pakistan.
Pakistan Airline Pilot Association (PALPA) President Capt Khalid Hamza is unhappy about the PIA’s decision and said to local media that the decision is a “big blunder” which shows the lack of Aviation knowledge and experience of current management.
According to local news paper, The Nation..Gulf carriers take up around 5000 seats daily from Karachi alone, of which Emirates has 50 percent market share with daily seven flights in Karachi-Dubai sector.
“The total loss Pakistan is facing on Karachi-UAE sector is approximately $725 million. If we include other stations i.e. Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan and Sialkot, the yearly depletion of foreign exchange of the country is around 6 to 8 billion dollars. Yearly capacity of foreign flag carriers from Karachi to UAE is approximately 1.825 million seats. “Assuming 75 percent seats utilisation by these flights throughout the year, we get 1.368 million seats which are utilised annually from Karachi station,” an aviation expert said. Now assuming that 60 percent of these utilised seats are available for UAE, we get 821,250 seats. This leaves around 547,500 (40 percent) seats for foreign destinations beyond UAE, like Europe and USA, the expert said.”.. reported The Nation