Jump to content

Airblue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 203.81.219.219 (talk) at 05:37, 19 April 2007 (→‎Services). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Air Blue
File:Airblue.GIF
IATA ICAO Callsign
ED ABQ PAKBLUE
Founded2003
HubsJinnah International Airport
Focus citiesAllama Iqbal International Airport
Islamabad International Airport
Frequent-flyer programBlue Miles
Fleet size10
Destinations9
HeadquartersKarachi, Pakistan
Key peopleShahid Khaqan Abbasi
Websitehttp://www.airblue.com

Airblue is an airline based in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is a scheduled domestic and international airline operating 30 daily services linking seven domestic destinations and international services to Dubai. Its main base is Jinnah International Airport, Karachi.[1]

History

[citation needed]

The airline was established in 2003 and started operations on 18 June 2004 with 3 leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft serving Karachi-Lahore and Karachi-Islamabad with three daily flights in each direction. The airline was inaugurated by the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz.

During the first year the airline became very popular, which allowed the airline to compete directly with the flag carrier PIA and the two other private carriers. This allowed the airline to expand into more cities in Pakistan including Peshawar, Quetta and Nawabshah. On August 14, 2005 (Pakistan's 58th Independence Day) Airblue launched its first international flight from Karachi to Dubai and recently added Faisalabad to its network.

Further expansion plans are already in the pipeline with flights to Manchester starting on June 1 2007 whilst an application to start flights to Jordan has been submitted 1. Other destinations that feature in their long term plans include further cities in the UK and to cities in USA, India and Saudi Arabia.

Services

Airblue was the first airline in Pakistan to introduce e-ticketing, wireless check-in and self check-in kiosk facilities.[1] The airline also became a member of Sabre system that is used by over a hundred airlines to help it with ticket automation services.

Self service check-in

File:Airblueself.jpg
Airblue Self Check in System

Leading the way with innovative new technology Airblue became the first airline in South Asia and only the second carrier in the region behind Emirates to introduce the latest self service check-in facilities at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. The system allows passengers with baggage to obtain a boarding card through the touch screen menu without needing to report to the counter. Airblue plans to extend the self service check-in facilities to Lahore and Islamabad, and eventually to all cities on its network. 1

One millionth passenger celebration

File:Samra Airblue.jpg
Chairman giving away the prize to Samara Azam(1,000,000 passenger) at Karachi

On March 22, 2006 Airblue celebrated the completion of handling of one million passengers on Tuesday at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. The passenger was Californian resident Samara Azam. The airline gave her one month's free travel on all sectors operated by Airblue, 12 complimentary tickets for her friends and relatives, a two night stay in any hotel of Avari hotel’s chain and a two night stay in Pearl Continental Karachi.

Airblue handles around 100,000 passengers a month, and this figure will increase when the airline starts operating new routes to the United Kingdom and other regional routes.[citation needed]

Joint venture with JS Air

[citation needed]

To comply with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations the airline started operating on socio-economic routes by flying to Nawabshah in central Sindh however the service was soon suspended because of low passenger load factors and the unsuitability of the A320 aircraft for this route. The suspension meant that Airblue was not compliant with CAA regulations and therefore had to incur penalty fees. To overcome the issue of non-compliance Airblue entered into a joint venture with start-up charter airline JS Air to operate flights on its behalf on socio-economic routes. This represented the first time in Pakistani aviation history that 2 air operators entered into a joint venture arrangement. The first destination under this agreement was the port city of Gwadar which was connected to the Airblue network on 17th June and is served twice daily, except Fridays, from Karachi. The flights are operated using JS Air's 19 seater Beech 1900C aircraft which are specifically suited to serving low yield 'commuter' destinations.

There is speculation that the Gwadar route will be followed by daily flights to Turbat and Sukkur and flights to Nawabshah are expected to resume by the end of the year.

Cargo

The Airblue announced on Monday the launching of an eCargo service to cater to the air freight market of the country, the UAE and the UK. According to a press release, the eCargo will broaden the base of cargo and permit certified agents to book cargo directly online opening the inventory through the web and allowing more competitive prices, making the transportation of goods more affordable.

Destinations

As of February 2007: [citation needed]

An Airblue A320 ready to depart Jinnah International Airport, Karachi
Pakistan
Middle East
Europe

Fleet

As of April 2007 the Airblue fleet includes: [citation needed]

Other aircraft:

Aircraft orders

The A320s will be delivered directly from Airbus on lease, and both are negotiating for four more. Airblue is also looking to order 2 A340-300 for operations on new routes to UK.[3][1][2]

On December 6, 2005 Airblue signed an agreement with International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) to dry-lease two Airbus A321 with V2533-A5 engines. The aircraft were delivered at the end of December 2005 and are leased by Airblue for five years. In addition, the company has obtained another Airbus A320 from Atlasjet on wet-lease due to increase in yields on domestic flights. [citation needed]

On January 19, 2006 Airblue took delivery of the two Airbus A321, which it had leased from ILFC. The aircraft were acquired to help Airblue's increasing passenger traffic on the Dubai-Pakistan routes. The aircraft have been configured to 24 in business class and 158 in economy class. One aircraft will be stationed at Dubai whilst the other will be put on the Karachi-Lahore flights for domestic flights. [citation needed]

On November 13, 2006 Airblue placed a firm order for 2 A320s directly from Airbus, and is negotiating for a further four. The aircraft will be dual configured with 24 business seats and 157 economy-class seats. [citation needed]

An Airblue A320-200 taking off from Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore

References

  1. ^ a b Flight International 27 March 2007
  2. ^ Manchester services
  3. ^ A320 orders
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Airblue.
  1. AirBlue to start flights to UK
  2. Airblue Introduce Self Check-in System
  3. Airblue celebrates one millionth passenger
  4. Airblue's Fleet Expansion
  5. ILFC News Release
  6. Airblue/Airbus Deal Press Release
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Airblue&oldid=124014495"