Airblue

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</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Jinnah International Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Focus cities / secondary hubs</th><td>Allama Iqbal International Airport
Islamabad International Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Frequent flyer program</th><td>Blue Miles</td></tr>

Air Blue
IATA ED	ICAO ABQ	Callsign PAKBLUE
Founded		2003
Fleet size		8
Destinations		8
Headquarters		Karachi, Pakistan
Key people		Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
Website: http://www.airblue.com

Airblue is a private Pakistani airline based at Jinnah International Airport Karachi. It was the first private carrier of Pakistan to operate the Airbus A320 when it initially started. Airblue has been expanding rapidly despite experiencing competition from the other three airline operators in Pakistan. The airline mainly flies on domestic routes plus internationally to Dubai International Airport and also has plans to fly to the UK and USA.

[edit] History

The airline was established in 2003 and started operations on 18 June 2004 with 3 leased 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 who expressed great potential in Airblue.

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 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 permission to start flights to Manchester awaiting clearance 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.

[edit] Sabre System

Airblue was the first airline in Pakistan to introduce e-ticketing bringing about a revolutionary way to buy airline tickets over the internet. The airline also became a member of Sabre system that is used by over a hundred airlines to help it with ticket automation services.

[edit] Plane Orders

Even with fuel prices on the rise, Airblue has kept a strong hold in Pakistan’s aviation market. This has allowed the company to sign an agreement to order ten brand new aircraft from Airbus with plans of some regional jetliners as well.

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.

Airblue was expected to start flights to Manchester International Airport from May 2006 for which slots have been acquired however these plans have been delayed and this service is now expected to start by June 2007.

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 twenty four in business 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.

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

[edit] One millionth Passenger Celebration

Image:Samra Airblue.jpg

On March 22, 2006 Airblue celebrated the completion of handling of one million passengers on Tuesday at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. At this moment, the Chief Executive Officer of the airline Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Director Commercial Syed Nasir Ali and other high officials of the airline were present at the airport to congratulate the one millionth passenger of the Airblue.

The passenger was a Californian resident Samara Azam who was surprised when the CEO of Airblue presented gifts to her in this regard.

The airline gave her one month free travel on all sectors operating by Airblue, 12 complimentary tickets for her friends and relatives, two night stay in any hotel of Avari hotel’s chain and two night stay in Pearl Continental Karachi.

He said that Airblue is handling around 100,000 passengers a month and this figure will increase when the airline will starts operation on new routes to the United Kingdom and other regional routes.

[edit] Self Service Check-in

Image:Airblueself.jpg

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

[edit] Joint Venture with JS Air

To comply wth 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.

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Current Fleet

As of August 2006 the Airblue fleet includes <ref>Flight International, 3-9 October 2006</ref> :

Other aircraft:

2 Beechcraft 1900C (Operated by JS Air on behalf of Airblue)

[edit] Ordered Aircraft

The airline had ordered ten brand new Airbus long haul and short haul aircraft to facilitate international expansion to the UK and strengthen the domestic routes. The $790 million order includes eight aircraft with deliveries commencing in 2008. Airbus A320 for the Gulf and domestic routes and two Airbus A330 for the European routes aircraft with deliveries commencing in 2008.
8 Airbus A320-200 (delivery in 2008)1
2 Airbus A330-200 (delivery in 2008)1

However, this order for ten Airbus does not seem to have materialized. But another deal for 2 A320 directly from Airbus has been signed and is negotiating for a further four. On the other hand Airblue is looking to order 2 A340-300 for operations on new routes to UK. [1][2][3]

[edit] Services

[edit] Future Routes

Airblue has plans to start services to many cities which include:

[edit] Pakistan

Nawabshah - resumption
Sukkur
Turbat

[edit] Middle East

Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, Jordan - subject to approval.

[edit] Europe

Manchester International Airport, Manchester, United Kingdom - Daily service to Manchester,UK was due to start in June, 2006 but has been delayed till Summer, 2007 due to unavailability of suitable aircraft.

[edit] See also

Image:Flag of Pakistan.svg	Airlines of Pakistan	Image:Flag of Pakistan.svg
Current Airlines	Aero Asia • Airblue • PIA • SAI • JSA
Cargo Airlines	DHL Cargo Pakistan • Pakistan International Cargo • Royal Airlines Cargo • Star Air • TCS Couriers
Charter Companies	Askari Aviation • Jahangir Siddiqui Charter • Royal Airlines • Schon Air • Pricely Jets
Future Airlines	Air Mashriq • DIA • Pearl Air • Safe Air
Defunct Airlines	Bhoja Air • Hajvairy Airlines • Orient Airways • Pak-Air • Raji Airlines • Super Airways
Other	Airports • CAA of Pakistan • List of airlines • List of defunct airlines • Shaheen Airport Services • Transport