ISLAMABAD, June 8: The passenger and freight traffic of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has declined by 2.5 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively during July 2006-March 2007 compared to the corresponding period last year.

According to the Economic Survey 2006-2007, the PIA carried 4.245 million passengers during July-March 2006-07 compared to 4.355 million passengers in the same period last year. The official document attributed the decrease to the grounding of PIA’s F-27 fleet in July 2006.

The airline’s revenue was Rs11.557 million in July-March 2006-07 as against Rs11.649 million generated in the corresponding period last year, registering a decrease of 0.8 per cent. The passenger capacity remained almost unchanged during the first 9 months (July-March) of the current fiscal year over the same period last year.

During July-March 2006-07, cargo traffic was 304 million Revenue Freight Tonne Kilometre (RFTKS) as against 313.8 RFTKS in the same period last year, thus registering a decline of 3.1 per cent.

The cargo handling capacity in terms of Available Freight Tonne Kilometre (AFTKS) has increased to 517 million during July-March 2006-07 as against 500.4 million in 2005-06, thus registering an increase of 3.3 per cent.

The Economic Survey said the airline was pursuing a long term fleet modernisation plan which envisages induction of two additional Boeing 777-300ER aircraft during July-March 2006-07. In addition, one B777-200ER was inducted on long term lease during the same period. As replacement of the grounded F-27 aircraft, four ATR 42-500 were also added to the PIA fleet during the same period thus bringing the total number of aircraft in PIA to 39.

Road Density: The survey said Pakistan intends to double its current road density of 0.31-km/sq. km to 0.64-km/sq. km gradually over the next 10 years.