Pakistan International Airlines Corporation

Pakistan International Airlines Corporation, more commonly known as Pakistan International Airlines or PIA (Urdu: پی آئی اے or پاکستان انٹرنیشنل ایرلاینز), is the flag carrier airline of Pakistan, based in Karachi. It is the 31st largest airline in Asia,[2] operating scheduled services to 35 destinations throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America, as well as a domestic network linking 23 destinations.[3] Its main bases are Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore and the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad/Rawalpindi. The airline's secondary bases include Peshawar International Airport, Faisalabad International Airport, Quetta International Airport and Multan International Airport, from which it connects the metropolitan cities with the main bases, the Middle East and the Far East. The airline is owned by the Government of Pakistan (87%) and other shareholders (13%). It employed 18,043 people as of May 2008.PIA has more international destinations than any other South Asia airline.

History:

Pakistan International Airlines, or PIA for short, can trace its beginnings to the days when Pakistan was not an independent state. In 1946 Muhammed Ali Jinnah realised the need for an airline network for the forming country and called upon the help of an industrialist Mirza Ahmad Ispahani to develop a flag carrier for the nation. Meanwhile, an airline called Orient Airways, registered in Calcutta, was formed on October 23 1946. In February 1947, the airline brought three DC-3 airplanes from a company in Texas, and in May of that year the airline was granted a licence to fly. Services were started in June from Kolkata to Sittwe and Yangon. This was the first post-war airline flight by a South Asian registered airline company[citation needed]. Two months after this service began, Pakistan was formed. Orient Airways began relief flights to the new nation and, soon after, it moved its operations to Karachi, where it began flights to Dhaka on June 7, 1954. In addition, the first two domestic routes in Pakistan were established, from Karachi to Lahore to Peshawar, and from Karachi to Quetta to Lahore.

The Government of Pakistan, realizing the operation was failing economically, proposed that Orient Airways merge into a new national airline. On March 11 1955, Orient Airways merged with the government's proposed airline, becoming Pakistan International Airlines Corporation. During the same year the airline opened its first international service, from Karachi to London Heathrow Airport via Cairo International Airport and Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Fiumicino, Italy, using the Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellation. The DC-3s continued operating the domestic services in Pakistan. In May 1956, PIA ordered two Super Lockheed Constellations and five Vickers Viscount 815. In 1959, Malik Nur Khan was named Managing Director.

In March 1960, PIA became the first Asian airline to use jet aircraft when Boeing 707 services were introduced[citation needed]. The aircraft were wet leased from Pan American and in 1961 services were begun to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. In 1962, orders were placed for Boeing 720s, Fokker F27s and Sikorsky helicopters. One of PIA's Boeing 720s broke a world record that year, when it flew from London to Karachi non-stop in 6 hours, 43 minutes and 55 seconds during its delivery flight from Seattle, piloted by PIA's senior Captain Abdullah Baig, a record unbroken to this day. During 1962, services to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were proving to be difficult, therefore PIA placed their Sikorsky S-61 helicopters on these routes until 1966 when conditions improved. In 1964 PIA became the first airline from a non-communist country to fly to the People's Republic of China. As the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 broke out, PIA helped the Pakistani forces with logistics and transport. In 1966, the Viscounts were phased out, substituted by four Tridents. However, as growth surpassed the need for these aircraft, they were later sold to Civil Aviation Administration of China. The 1970s saw the resumption of transatlantic flights and new destinations. It once again aided the Pakistan Army by transporting soldiers to East Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971[4] and lost a couple of its aircraft to Indian Air Force fighters.[5]. In 1972 it applied to operate to Libya and an agreement was signed with Yugoslav airline JAT. In 1973, McDonnell Douglas DC-10s arrived and were used by the airline before they were replaced by Boeing 747-200Bs. In 1974 air freight services started, as well as a cargo service to New York under the name, Pakistan International Cargo. In 1975, PIA introduced new uniforms for air hostesses. These uniforms were chosen through an open competition, the winning entry was a design by Sir Hardy Amies who was designer to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In 1976, leased Boeing 747-200Bs came into service. In 1978, the airline bought their first Boeing 747-200BM aircraft. Also in 1978 the airline provided help to Somali Airlines, Air Malta and Yemenia and established a hotel management service in the United Arab Emirates. PIA leased two of its own Boeing 720s to Air Malta during the 70s.

The 1980s began with the opening of a cargo centre in Karachi and the delivery of a new aircraft, Airbus A300B4-203. In 1981, a duty-free sales service was inaugurated. During 1982, the first C and D checks were carried out on the fleet in Karachi. In 1984, domestic night coach fare service was introduced to offer lower prices for low-income passengers. In 1985 the PIA Planetarium tourist attraction was inaugurated in Karachi and later in Lahore. In the same year, five Boeing 737-300s joined the fleet making PIA the first Asian operator of such a type. Two former PIA Boeing 720Bs now form part of the Planetarium's exhibition at Karachi and Lahore. In late 1987 and early 1988, flights were introduced to Malé and to Toronto Pearson International Airport, respectively. In 1989, the first women pilots started their career on passenger airplanes. During June 1991, PIA received the first of six Airbus A310-300 aircraft on from Airbus Industrie. In 1992, flights started to Tashkent and in 1993, to Zürich, Switzerland. In addition, PIA became a user of the Sabre, Galileo and Amadeus global distribution systems. During 1994, PIA added Jakarta, Fujairah, Baku and Al-Ain to its destinations. Air Safari flights were launched in the same year using Boeing 737-300 aircraft over the Karakoram Range mountains. In 1995, PIA received a Boeing 747 flight simulation system and a used Air France A300 aircraft was bought. In 1996 the airline leased Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, and re-opened services to Beirut.