National Airline of Pakistan

Pakistan International Airlines, or PIA, is the national air carrier of Pakistan. The airline maintains a hub at Quaid-e-Azam International Airport in Karachi and offers service to Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. For two months during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, PIA runs a special service carrying pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia.

Routes

1. As of June 2010, PIA offered service to about two dozen cities within Pakistan and about 40 cities in 26 foreign countries. It had three North American destinations: New York, Chicago and Toronto. Most flights to North America originate in Karachi and include a stop in Lahore. New York-bound flights also stop in Manchester, England, while Chicago-bound flights stop in Barcelona, Spain.

Fleet

2. The airline maintains a fleet of about 40 to 50 aircraft. According to the company's website, it flies Boeing 777s on routes to Europe and North America. It uses Airbus A310s on domestic and regional routes, as well as routes to East Asia. It flies Boeing 737s on domestic routes. And for service to smaller cities within Pakistan, it uses ATR42 turboprops. The airline uses Boeing 747s mostly for cargo flights and its highest-density passenger routes, carrying pilgrims to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Booking

3. You can book flights on PIA at the airline's website, or by calling its North American toll free number: 1-800-578-6786. PIA flights are designated by the International Air Transport Association code PK, and the airline maintains "code-sharing agreements"--deals in which airlines sell tickets on one another's flights as if they were their own--with four other airlines: Thai Airways, China Southern Airlines, Turkish Airlines and AeroSvit, a Ukrainian carrier. As of mid-2010, PIA is not part of a global alliance with any American carrier.

History

4. PIA traces its history to 1946, the year before Pakistan gained independence from Britain. At the time, the land that would become Pakistan consisted of two territories--West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)--separated by hundreds of miles. Orient Airways was founded as a private carrier to serve as a bridge between them. The airline had trouble turning a profit and was taken over in 1955 by the government, which folded it into the newly formed, state-owned Pakistan International Airlines.

Safety

5. Citing safety and maintenance concerns, the European Union banned most of PIA's aircraft from EU airspace in 2007. Only the relatively new 777s were exempt from the ban. The EU lifted the ban that November after a review of PIA facilities and procedures.