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Why is PIA Losing Money Amid Air Travel Boom in Pakistan?
What is behind the domestic and international aviation boom in India and Pakistan? Why is Pakistan doing better than India in terms of international passenger growth while badly lagging in domestic air travel?
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Passenger Aircraft at Karachi International Airport |
What has happened to the global airline industry since the passage of the US Deregulation Act of 1978? Why did many big airlines of yesteryears die in spite of huge growth of air travel? How did so many upstart low-cost carriers succeed while state-owned airlines failed?
Why are the domestic air fares in Pakistan three times higher than those in India for similar distances? Why does state-owned PIA control two-thirds of Pakistan's domestic market? Why isn't there more competition on domestic routes in Pakistan?
Why are state-owned airlines, including PIA and Air India, losing a lot of money, requiring massive taxpayer subsidies and still performing poorly? Why aren't these airlines run more efficiently? Are PIA jobs used for political patronage? Why does PIA fly so many empty seats rather than cut fares to expand market?
Viewpoint From Overseas host Faraz Darvesh discusses these questions with Misbah Azam and Riaz Haq (www.riazhaq.com)
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Views: 1108
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Comment by Riaz Haq on Saturday
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Saad @AirlinePilotMax
Why Pakistan’s next aviation boom won’t start in Karachi or Lahore… it will start with 70–90 seat regional jets.
Everyone talks about CPEC, tourism potential, and Gwadar — but ask any traveler from Gilgit, Skardu, Chitral, or even Multan how many flights they actually get per week. The bottleneck isn’t demand. It’s connectivity.
Here’s the quiet truth: Pakistan’s geography and demographics are textbook-perfect for modern regional jets like EmbraerE-Jets .
Why they can become the real backbone of feeder routes:
1. Runway reality
Most northern and secondary airports (Skardu 11,000 ft but high elevation, Chitral, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, DG Khan, etc.) can’t reliably take 737s/A320s year-round, especially in summer. A 76-seat E175 performs where the big narrowbodies struggle.
2. Frequency > Capacity
Gilgit in peak season sells out 2–3 daily 50-seaters in minutes. One 180-seat A320 a day doesn’t solve the problem — four 78-seat flights do. Higher frequency unlocks tourism and same-day business travel.
3. Unit cost revolution
New-generation regional jets (E2, A220) now have seat costs within 5–10 % of an A320 on stages <500 nm, but with half the trip cost. Perfect for thin routes that can’t fill 180 seats yet.
4. Domestic feed = International yield
Every passenger from Skardu, Chitral or Sukkur who connects in Islamabad or Lahore is pure marginal revenue for PK, EK, QR, TK widebody flights. Feed the hubs, feed the bottom line.
5. Proven model next door
India went from 20 regional jets in 2015 to over 120 today (mostly under UDAN). Result? New stations, lower fares, and routes that eventually graduated to A320s when traffic matured. Pakistan can copy-paste the playbook.
The fleet Pakistan truly needs in the next 5–7 years isn’t 30 more A320s… it’s 30–40 modern regional jets, flown aggressively on 40–50 underserved routes.
When a family in Hunza can fly to Karachi same-day return for a medical appointment, or a textile buyer from Faisalabad can visit three cities in one day — that’s when aviation becomes an economic accelerator, not just transport.
https://x.com/airlinepilotmax/status/1996101019173093827?s=61&t...
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