PIA achieves improvement in yields

National carrier, PIA due to its marketing strategies, has not only shown a constant growth on passenger and cargo traffic but also been able to achieve improvement in yields through optimum utilisation of available capacity, the sources said.
According to PIA sources, this was achieved despite a constant rise in aviation fuel prices which had an unprecedented hike in 2004.
It said that in 2003 the world average jet fuel price was US cents 61.2 per US gallon and it hit US cents 115.3 in July 2004 and was still rising.
The rising fuel price coupled with already prevalent slump in aviation industry has had an adverse effect on all major airlines of the world.
The sources further told, during first nine months of operation in 2004 Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) of PIA were 10,274 million as compared to 6997 million during the same period in 2003 and 6024 million in 2002. The rise was 26 percent over January- September RPKs of 2002. This achievement was further enhanced by a yield increase of around 30 paisa per RPK.
Similarly, the cargo market had also shown very positive results. During January to September 2004, the Revenue Freight Ton Kilometres (RFTKs) reached a figure of 299 million as compared to 273 million during corresponding period of 2003 and 256 million during 2002.
The growth in freight was 16.6 percent over the 2002 levels. The cargo yield also remained high at 90 paisa per RFTK, the sources added. PIA sources said that had been achieved by adding a dedicated freighter service to cater for demand in cargo capacity that could not be met through passenger services due to the fact that high seat factors required higher baggage capacity leaving little space for cargo.
According to sources, the Mango season ended in September after setting up ever highest uplift record. During the season (May-September 04) PIA uplifted in total 9140 tons Mango for various destinations in UK, Europe, Saudi Arabia and Gulf and generated a record revenue of PRK 566 million which is 19 percent more than the revenue earned during 2003 while 16 percent growth in tons uplift had been recorded vis-à-vis last year.
The sources told, in line with the industry practice and on the Air Cargo Agent Association Pakistan (ACAAP) request the space for mango uplift like dry cargo was allocated directly to the Cargo Agents to be further distributed due to the exporters by them.