NEW YORK: PIA will resume its flights from New York to London in April next year, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, President of Pakistan International Airlines, announced here at a Press conference today [Oct 23]. The new PIA service, another milestone in PIA’s phenomenal growth, will link the United States with Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Asia and the Far East.

The New York service will be operated on a daily frequency with PIA’s fleet of Boeing 707-340Cs and 720Bs.

The Air Marshal told a well-attended Press conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel that PIA “is now one of the largest Asian airlines with one of the best pro-stability records in the industry”. He added that PIA had made rapid progress during the last ten years and its international operations showed a 24 per cent annual traffic increase, which was one of the biggest in the airline industry.

He was confident that PIA would succeed in competing effectively on the highly competitive New York route. This confidence was based on commercial reasons, because PIA must operate as a profit-oriented company. The decision to extend services to New York, Air Marshal Asghar Khan said, has been facilitated by PIA’s acquisition of three new Boeing-707 jets with another Boeing to be delivered in July 1968, its new maintenance and engineering base in Karachi, and a substantial expansion of its international network to feed the New York operation.

The PIA chief said that with the start of New York services PIA Boeing flights through the Middle East and Europe to London would be increased from nine to ten flights a week. He further disclosed that PIA had reserved two portions for the American supersonic transport and was currently evaluating its requirement for other high-capacity jets. Its decision to operate across the Atlantic would have an important bearing on the selection of this type of aircraft, Air Marshal Asghar Khan declared.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017