Airblue, a premier private airline of Pakistan, has announced plans to launch its first long-haul international operation between Islamabad and UK's fastest growing city, Manchester, in the middle of May this year.
In preparation for the big day, Air Blue Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi held a promotion meeting on Thursday with leading travel agents from Manchester and its adjacent areas comprising Bradford, Birmingham, New Castle, Huddersfield and Bolton, according to a message received here on Friday.
Airblue would become the first amongst the three private sector airlines operating in the country to spread its wings up to United Kingdom. It is already flying to Dubai for last one year. Shahid said, "It was a matter of pride for the airline to introduce the new flights to Manchester."
The Airblue COO said that the "fastest growing airline of Pakistan" had been evaluating the proposal to operate to the United Kingdom for over a year, and had completed all necessary official requirements to launch the flights.
Airblue had first obtained official permission for operations from the Government of Pakistan, and now formal permission had also been obtained from the United Kingdom Department for Transportation.
Abbasi said that Airblue had decided upon Manchester as its first UK destination because of the large number of Pakistanis living in the region. Presently, Airblue is negotiating the details of the operation with the Manchester Airport Group which includes slot timings, handling, engineering, catering and other allied support functions.
The Airblue COO confirmed that "Insha Allah, the airline is aiming for a May 2007 launch and all preparations are on track to meet the target date".
He gave a brief of the current operation of Airblue, outlining how the airline was born in June 2004, with a fleet of three A320 aircraft and a limited domestic network of 12 daily flights. Today, Airblue operates the youngest fleet of aircraft in Pakistan with more than 30 flights a day to seven domestic destinations in Pakistan and 3 daily flights to Dubai.
The airline presently has a fleet of six aircraft, including three Airbus A320 aircraft and three Airbus A321 aircraft. The six aircraft provide the latest in fly-by-wire technology and the latest in passenger amenities.
The addition of Manchester to its network will mark the third anniversary of the Airblue. Airblue plans to offer a full-service product with a two-class configuration on its flights to Manchester.
It operated more than 10,000 flights in last 30 months, carrying over two million passengers on its network with revenues in excess of Rs 12 billion.
It has redefined flying through its innovation in Pakistan's aviation sector with the introduction of many firsts including e-tickets, internet based sales, wireless check-in, self check-in kiosks, in-flight entertainment on domestic flights.
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