Airblue Airline to launch air service between Quetta and Karachi from March ('Baluchistan Times' - Week of Feb

07, 2005 ) Staff Reporter Quetta: Air service between Quetta and Karachi would be launched from March 1st this year, the Director Commercial Airblue Airline, Sayed Nasir Ali, announced here Thursday. While briefing newsmen here at a local hotel, he said that all arrangements have been made to launch air service between Quetta and Karachi in order to facilitate the people of Balochistan. Travel agents were also present on the occasion. Mr. Nasir Ali stated that Airblue has adopted effective steps to meet the market demands and to facilitate the passengers traveling through it. He informed that highly qualified and skilled persons have been recruited in Airblue to ensure provision of better service to passengers. "We would meet the expectations of passengers", he assured. Director Commercial Airblue airline said that we have three A-320 aircraft, which are three to four years old. In response to a query, he said that at first this service would be four days a week that would be extended later. However, Mr. Nasir Ali mentioned that we would consider on launching service for Islamabad and Lahore as well. He made it clear that is was 100 per cent Pakistani airlines, financed by Pakistanis living in the United States. Commenting over appointments at Airblue, Mr. Nasir Ali said that a total of 400 direct jobs would be provided throughout the country, saying that in Balochistan locals would be given jobs in the airline. Director Commercial Airblue on the occasion told that passengers' growth has been increased rapidly countrywide and predicted that the passenger growth in Quetta would be enhanced for twenty per cent in one year.

Airblue

IATA PA Founded

ICAO ABQ 2004 18 June 2004

Callsign AIRBLUE

Commenced operations Hubs Focus cities

Jinnah International Airport Allama Iqbal International Airport Benazir Bhutto International Airport Dubai International Airport Blue Miles Blue Lounge International[1] 8 11 Islamabad Stock Exchange Towers Islamabad, Pakistan

Frequent-flyer program Airport lounge Fleet size Destinations Headquarters Key people Website

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (CEO)

www.airblue.com

Islamabad Stock Exchange Towers, the Airblue headquarters in Islamabad Airblue Limited is a private airline with its head office on the 12th floor of the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) Towers in Islamabad, Pakistan.[2] It is Pakistan's second largest airline with over 20% share of the domestic market.[3] Airblue operates scheduled flights operating 30 daily services linking four domestic destinations Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar with international services to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Muscat, Istanbul and Manchester. Its main base is Jinnah International Airport, Karachi.

History
The airline was established in 2003 and started operations on 18 June 2004 with three leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft serving KarachiLahore and KarachiIslamabad with three daily flights in each direction.[4] The airline was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan.[citation needed] During the first year the airline became very popular,[5] which allowed the airline to compete directly with the flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines and the two other private carriers, flying more than 400,000 passengers in the first year with a load factor of over 90%.[6] This allowed the airline to expand into more cities in Pakistan including Peshawar, Quetta and Nawabshah.[4] On 14 August 2005 (Pakistan's 58th Independence Day) Airblue launched its first international flight from Karachi to Dubai.[4] On June 4, 2007, Airblue launched its inaugural flight to Manchester, England using the Airbus A321.[7] Airblue changed its IATA code from ED to PA in June 2012, the new code previously belonged to the defunct carrier Pan American World Airways. As of June 2012, Airblue has finalised an agreement to acquire one Airbus A320 and two leased Airbus A340-300s for current and new international routes. It is also looking at various types of turboprop aircraft for new domestic routes. If finalised, Airblue would be looking to acquire four turboprops. The A320 would provide further flexibility in the schedule while the A340s would enable it to strengthen its Manchester route. This would also help the airline to open more routes in Europe and the Middle East. Airblue plans to be operating a total of ten aircraft by the end of 2012.[8] Airblue has order long range aircraft which consist of 3 Airbus A380 and will be leasing a Boeing 747-400. These new aircraft will open major routes like London, New York, Sydney and Tokyo.

Destinations
Airblue serves the following destinations as of May 2013:[9] Oman

Muscat - Muscat International Airport

Pakistan Islamabad - Benazir Bhutto International Airport Focus City Karachi - Jinnah International Airport Hub Lahore - Allama Iqbal International Airport Focus City Peshawar - Bacha Khan International Airport Rahim Yar Khan - Shaikh Zayed International Airport Saudi Arabia Jeddah - King Abdulaziz International Airport (begins 10 July 2013) United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi International Airport Dubai - Dubai International Airport Sharjah - Sharjah International Airport United Kingdom Manchester - Manchester Airport Airblue also previously served Faisalabad and Gwadar in Pakistan.[10][11]

Network expansion
Airblue intends to expand operations with additional aircraft to destinations in Europe, China, and the Middle East[12] aiming to become a major player in Europe. They also plan to start a Mumbai-Karachi air route. However, this would require the airline to get designated, a status which only PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) enjoys currently. Under the bilateral civil aviation agreement, there are slots for 12 flights a week between India and Pakistan, currently entirely used by PIA.