PIA to resume flights to Türkiye this month

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is looking forward to restart its flights to Türkiye.

Airline officials expect the flights to increase revenue after the carrier's turbulent past two years.

Last month, PIA shared that it would restart flights on November 14th, but the carrier has since extended the date to November 15th.

According to a PIA spokesperson, the carrier will resume service to Türkiye in two phases.

The first phase will be weekly Istanbul-bound flights from PIA’s secondary hubs: Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore and Islamabad International Airport. Two flights will operate from Lahore, and four flights will operate from Islamabad, respectively.

The airline plans to use its Airbus A320 aircraft for the flights. According to SeatGuru, PIA has two configurations of its A320. One version features eight business class seats with 150 economy class seats. The other features an entire cabin of economy class with 180 seats. At six flights per week, the airline has the capability of offering a maximum of 1,080 seats to Istanbul.

The second phase will be Istanbul flights from the carrier’s main hub, Jinnah International Airpo
rt in Karachi. A starting date for the second phase of service or aircraft type to operate the route has yet to be confirmed by the airline.

The announcement comes as Pakistan and Türkiye celebrate 75 years of international relations. PIA tweeted on October 28th that its flights to Istanbul will allow passengers to connect to more than 20 other cities around the globe with the help of its partnership with Turkish Airlines.

PIA’s codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines offers mutual benefits. Turkish Airlines is able to continue to fill seats on its flights, while PIA can get the attention of Pakistani passengers with an expanded network.

Source: Simple Flying