Tough times ahead for Pakistani travelers as PIA – Pakistan International Airlines raises its fares for travel between peak seasons based around UK school holidays, the airline which has been struggling to make ends meet for a long time now. Has fueled much speculation over its unprecedented fares in the past 6 months with average prices on flights to Pakistan reaching as staggering high of £1100.00 return per adult during peak holiday periods around Easter, Summer Holidays and New Year.
The airline which is currently being bailed out by the Pakistani government each month is said to be making losses in billions of rupees, it is not known for how long the airline can continue to to operate with such hefty fees for keeping it afloat, there have been talks about privatizing the airline partly to follow in the footsteps of world renowned and award winning airline Turkish Airlines who are currently the only airline in the world flying to more than 200 destinations around the globe and thought to be one of the most successful airlines of Europe.
Pakistani passengers have enjoyed the last 7-8 years of budget style fares with air blue offering fares of around £400 return from Manchester to Islamabad and Lahore and for a short period from Birmingham to Islamabad and Lahore. The low cost fares to Pakistan impacted on PIA hugely as they too had no choice but to lower their fares to stay in the competition, airblue had a major impact on PIA and certainly created a much deeper black hole for the airline.
The suspension of air blue now means the Pakistani passengers being forced to pay PIA premium fares averaging around £600- £700 even during most off peak seasons.
( below pictures: A snapshot of the type of fares that were being offered during the so called reign of air blue)