At a time when national carrier Pakistan International Airlines is in bad shape, immensely under pressure of huge debts and losses, the government is extending favours to foreign carriers without any justification, according to aviation experts here. According to reliable information, 14 flights slots to Turkish Airlines (TK) from northern Pakistan Lahore and Islamabad to Istanbul would further hurt the bruised PIA.
While the experts are amazed at the government's generosity which is keeping the move a closely guarded secret, appearance of these flights for sale of tickets on TK website is enough proof to unfold the secret which is apparently an effort to delay criticism and agitation by PIA employees.
Undoubtedly, the bonds between the two countries are respected by the public of both Turkey and Pakistan but everyone has to keep its citizens and country's interest supreme, experts said adding that the slots doled out will cost heavily on PIA as Istanbul has geographical advantage being closer to Europe and most suitable enroute stop over to US and UK where most of Pakistani Diaspora lives.
Smart TK staff has always managed to make their way during all previous governments including the present which is very fond of the development in Turkey and is ready to offer any kind of favour, even if that is not reciprocated by Turkey.
A former PIA GM in charge of bilateral agreements requesting anonymity said that award of slots to foreign carrier is always on reciprocal basis or when the travelling public is finding it difficult to travel out of the country. The ground reality is that we don't see any rush at airports, on the contrary every airline flying out of Pakistan including PIA has plenty of seats available almost every season. We don't see any favour being given to PIA in Turkey.
Strategically, PIA can not benefit from Istanbul as the foreign and Turkish traffic will always have better connections to Europe and Americas given TK's punctuality as compared to PIA.
Having around more than 240 local and foreign destinations with a fleet of 230 aircraft mostly narrow body give TK a big advantage against PIA which will not even be able to provide/ replace an aircraft in case of emergency. He said it is not only PIA which stands at disadvantage but the Pakistani public also as they don't have any right to have stop over at Istanbul.
Even after having decades old relations, Pakistan government has not even initiated a request for on arrival visa etc, basically it is non professional thinking at the top which does not consider PIA a business but just another government department making losses, without realising that it is their own decisions that are putting PIA at risk.
An aviation financial expert said that there is no match between PIA and Turkish Airlines where latter's sales revenue increased by 23% reaching 8.2 billion TL. Compared to the first half of 2012, overall net operating profit improved 192% to 439 million TL. During the first half of 2013, 22.4 million passengers were carried implying a 26% increase in passenger traffic. In response to the 21% increase in available seat kilometers (ASK), revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) increased by 27%, resulting in increase in passenger load factor which came to 78.9% system wise.
In 2013, Turkish Airline launched 15 new international and five new domestic routes, bringing the total number of international links to 196, total number of destinations to 237 and the number of countries flown to 103. Turkish Airlines' fleet size as of today is 232, comprising of 182 narrow body, 40 wide body and 10 cargo aircraft.
Being rewarded as 'Europe's Best Airline' three years in a row, Turkish Airlines continues to consolidate its successful position and strength, while increasing its product and service quality with the help of strong financial results.
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