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PIA To Start Freight Operations From London

GF-A330 From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2001, 1643 posts, RR: 3
Posted (10 years 3 weeks 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 3262 times:

PIA will start its freight operation from mid May this year for Europe and hopes to earn handsome revenue from this route.

PIA officials said that the airline was out of the freight market since 1998 when two B707F aircraft were retired from its fleet.

There is a constant demand from Pakistani exporters to increase cargo capacity as PIA is mostly providing belly space on its passenger aircraft, PIA informed the minister in a presentation made during his visit to PIA Head office here Saturday.

PIA has now been able to reach an arrangement for operating twice weekly A300 freighters that will start from May 18.

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The freighters will operate from Karachi to London and all the cargo from entire Europe will gather at London from where it would be fetched back home and vice versa, Shaukat Aziz was told.

If the exporters are given subsidy by the Export Promotion Bureau, PIA's earning from this sector would be multiplied.

Also visit:http://www.geocities.com/fly_pia/

11 replies: All unread, jump to last

PIA747 From Pakistan, joined Apr 2003, 624 posts, RR: 0
Reply 1, posted (10 years 3 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 3225 times:

Interesting news.PIA does not have any A300F at preasent, and since they are starting service on MAY 18th there is not enough time for a conversion.Where are these freighters coming from?

GAWZU From United Kingdom, joined May 2002, 235 posts, RR: 1
Reply 2, posted (10 years 3 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 3190 times:

Any ideas as to which airport in London will be used?

Cheers,
Adam

PIA747 From Pakistan, joined Apr 2003, 624 posts, RR: 0
Reply 3, posted (10 years 3 weeks 3 days 14 hours ago) and read 3187 times:

PIA operates 9 flights a week to into LHR. Since that is the only PIA serviced airport in London, i would way LHR.

Airmale From Botswana, joined Sep 2004, 368 posts, RR: 2
Reply 4, posted (10 years 3 weeks 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 3103 times:

PIA are planning to lease two A310-300F according a news repot in the papers today.

.....up there with the best!

PIA747 From Pakistan, joined Apr 2003, 624 posts, RR: 0
Reply 5, posted (10 years 3 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3098 times:

PIA is going to lease two A310-300F, this has been known for quite some while now.But they would not have any freighters by the 18th of May for the London cargo runs.So i assume the news is not correct.

Bigmo747 From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 306 posts, RR: 1
Reply 6, posted (10 years 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 3039 times:

The real reason that PIA quit freighter operations into and out of LHR in 1988 was not because of the 707's being retired, but was because of the fall apart of the PIA Cargo Department at LHR.

In the middle 80's PIA was actually doing quite well in it's Cargo Operations into and out of London, they had the 707's and the combis. They were also at that time handling agents for Kuwait Airways and another # of airlines if i remember correctly. However in 1988 when the Asst Cargo Manager resigned (who was a local--london based employee) the cargo office fell apart. The interim manager could not handle the pressure (who in turn suffered a mental nervous breakdown) and neither could the managers that were being sent from Karachi. As a matter of fact the managers that were assigned and replaced every three years were a bunch of politically appointed idiots who had no clue of how to handle a position of cargo manager. Because of these reasons the Asst Cargo Manager quit and headed west to New York to join Royal Jordanian as the Asst Cargo manager there.

Eventually PIA Cargo at LHR lost it's handling duties of Kuwait Airways and a few other airlines and then inturn itself (PIA)was handled by Air Lingus which was located close by in the same cargo complex.

In my honest opinion PIA Cargo was shut down at LHR in 1988 because of one man quitting. This info can be verified by contacting any of the other local employees who also worked for PIA cargo at Lhr at that time or any PIA employee in London who has been around for awhile--whether traffic or cargo.

Regards

Bigmo747 From United States of America, joined Dec 2000, 306 posts, RR: 1
Reply 7, posted (10 years 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 3033 times:

One quick change, i just noticed that the original date was 1998 and in my post i had mentioned 1988. My post is about the downfall of PIA cargo at LHR in general when the problems originated in 1988.

I apologize about saying the 707's weren't retired, they were retired by 1998.

Airmale From Botswana, joined Sep 2004, 368 posts, RR: 2
Reply 8, posted (10 years 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 3007 times:

Since most of PIA's cargo operations will be top cities where they already have passenger services why dont they get 744 combi's instead of the A310F's?

.....up there with the best!

PIA747 From Pakistan, joined Apr 2003, 624 posts, RR: 0
Reply 9, posted (10 years 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2966 times:

I think this has to do with a bit of economics. A B744 combi is still a relatively expensive aircraft, where as the A310 has been here for a while and have completed a considerable number of cycles. As a result the prices have gone down and that makes it one of the ideal long haul aircrafts for freighter conversion.
Another reason could be fleet uniformity. There are no extra expenses involved such as training, for adding another A310 to the PIA fleet.

744rules From Belgium, joined Mar 2002, 406 posts, RR: 0
Reply 10, posted (10 years 1 week 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2948 times:

any idea on the route, as an a300 only has a range of +- 06h00 with max payload (+- 45t). This would mean a refuelling somewere in the red sea area (dxb, auh,...)

PIA747 From Pakistan, joined Apr 2003, 624 posts, RR: 0
Reply 11, posted (10 years 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 2934 times:

The A300 report seems to be incorrect. PIA seems to be interested in A310-300 Freighters.

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