KARACHI, June 6: The Pakistan International Airlines and three private airlines on Monday could not reach a consensus on ending their war of fares. Sources told Dawn that the meeting, chaired by Director Marketing of PIA Kamran Hasan and attended by the representatives of Airblue, Shaheen Air and Aero Asia, decided to meet again on Wednesday to resolve the issue.

They said that all airlines had been suffering revenue losses as they were selling tickets below the cost.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) last week, under the directive of defence ministry, had directed the three private airlines and PIA to hold a meeting to evolve a consensus on the issue and fix the fares above the cost.

The private airlines have agreed to hold their meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways and means for ending the war, according to the sources.

The battle had taken a serious turn early last month when the private carriers decided to cut their fares by 60 per cent after the PIA introduced its new fare chart.

The chart perturbed the three airlines which appealed to the ministry of defence and CAA to intervene.

The private airlines have agitated against the PIA’s new marketing strategy under which it drastically cut fares from May 16 on domestic routes.

The PIA said it had introduced numerous incentives for passengers on domestic routes besides the drastic cuts in fares on domestic destinations to win more customers and generate more revenue.