Air Indus aiming to fly into international

skies
KARACHI: After a tumultuous journey that landed Air
Indus into a situation where its future looked bleak, the
domestic carrier is now in talks to lease three Airbus 320s
to bolster its operation, officials have said.

Efforts to expand the size of its fleet from two to five aircraft comes as
the airline aims to seek permission to operate on international routes
after flying domestically since mid-2013.

“We had already met the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) requirement
of operating on domestic routes for a year before going international,”
said Javed Akhter, a senior official of the airline.

“But for that we needed to have at least five aircraft. Now we are in talks
with an owner of A-320s to dry lease them.”

Air Indus flies to eight cities including Bahawalpur as a secondary

destination in compliance CAA’s requirement for domestic airlines to
connect certain small cities without considering passenger load factor.

Air Indus, which is backed by Karakoram Motors as the sponsor and is

the fourth and youngest Pakistani airline, has not had an easy journey.

Tale of mismanagement

Its fleet of three Boeing 737-300s has an average age of over 20 years –
something which the new aviation policy does not allow.
Air Indus aiming to fly into international
skies
Then, one of its aircraft was severely damaged in the 2014 attack on
Karachi airport. The company, which owned the aircraft, went bankrupt
and it was never repaired and inducted again.

“We tried using jets on wet lease but that’s a very expensive proposition
and CAA doesn’t allow them to be in the fleet for more than three
months,” said Akhter.

A wet-lease involves renting an aircraft from another airline with its

pilots and cabin crew. The A-320s to be dry-leased were manufactured
in 2004.

Internationally, Air Indus wants to follow the lead of other private

carriers and focus on Saudi Arabia and Middle East.

“Flying to Europe would be too ambitious right now. We are in a

nascent stage and will prefer to focus on established profitable routes,”
said Akhter.

A senior CAA official said that the regulator has given a two-year grace
period to Air Indus and other airlines, allowing them to use old aircraft
for the interim period.

Pakistan’s aviation industry has seen too many prospectors trying their
luck with airline business. Most of the airlines have gone bankrupt,
often to the embarrassment of highflying investors.

In recent years, Rayyan Air, Vision Air and Fly Pakistan Air also applied
for commercial air transport license besides Air Indus, but none of
these airlines have taken off yet.
Air Indus aiming to fly into international
skies
Bleak aviation industry

Pakistan adopted an ‘open skies’ policy in the 1990s, allowing

competition on the domestic routes and giving broader access to foreign
airlines.

More than 20 licences were issued to airliners but none except for
Shaheen Air has survived. Bhoja Air resurfaced under a new
management a few years back but it has also been permanently
grounded after a devastating air crash.

Despite a discouraging history, industry people say the sheer size of the
country’s population is enough of a reason for investors to jump into
the capital-intensive airline business.

This assertion seems to be reflecting in numbers as well. According to

CAA, Air Indus carried 301,070 passengers or 8.6% of domestic
passengers in the year which ended June 2014 – that was done by a new
airline within a few months.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23 rd, 2015.