PIA AND THE DAWN OF A NATION
PIA has recently updated it’s entire fleet and was the worlds first airline to commission the Boeing 777-200ER, 777-200LR and 777-300ER into active service.
Pakistan International Airlines more commonly known as PIA is the flag carrier airline of Pakistan , based in Karachi . It is the 16th largest airline in Asia, operating scheduled services to 73 destinations throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America as well as an extensive domestic network linking 24 destinations. Its main bases are Jinnah International Airport, Karachi the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore and the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad/Rawalpindi. The airline also has secondary bases, including 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 has 18,043 employees (at May 2008).
PIA can trace its beginnings to the days when Pakistan still 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 experienced industrialist Mirza Ahmad Ispahani to develop a flag carrier for the nation. Two months after the Nation was formed, the Government of Pakistan, proposed that struggling flight carrier 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, one of the most advanced passenger jets of the time.
Fast forward to 2008 and PIA continues this legacy, boasting the largest number of direct flights to Pakistan and a recently updated fleet of planes, the airline that accompanied the birth of a nation continues to serve its people like no other.
APTA CERTIFIED PIA EXCLUSIVE AGENT
261 Hoe St, Walthamstow, London
Tel: 020 8521 6171 / 020 9521 3420
Fax: 020 8521 3870
Email: [email protected]