PIA

PIA's fleet of modern aircraft are spacious, comfortable, and designed to get you to your destination safely. PIA operates a range of advanced aircraft, ranging from the world's preferred Boeing 777 airplane to the super-quiet Airbus A-310.

A brief introduction of PIA fleet.

BOEING 777The Boeing 777 family comprises of long-range, wide-body twin-engine airplanes. PIA was the first airline in the world to operate all the three variants of the 777 family: 777-200LR, 777-200ER and 777-300ER, all of them are well loved by PIA's seasoned travelers for their spaciousness and comfort. PIA also holds the privilege of being the launch customer for 777-200LR, one of PIA’s aircraft holds the record for the longest commercial jet flight in aviation history. At present PIA is serving destinations in USA, Canada, UK and eourpeon.

Boeing 747

The Boeing 747, often referred to as “Jumbo Jet”, is amongst the world's most iconic and recognizable jet airplanes. This 4 engine long haul wide-body airplane has a two-deck configuration. PIA operates two variants of 747 family which includes 747-300 and 747-200 Combi. 747 Combi is so called as it has mixed pax and cargo configuration on the main deck. At present due to its capacity, 747-300 fleet is mostly deployed to cater high density requirements like carrying intending pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia.

Airbus A310

The Airbus A310 is a medium to long range wide-body airplane providing a spacious interior to its travelers. PIA has deployed the A310-300 fleet on Far East, Regional as well as Domestic routes.

Boeing 737

The Boeing 737 is one of the world's favorite narrow-body short/medium haul jet airplane. Amongst its many credits, it has the distinction of being the most ordered and produced commercial airplane of all time and Boeing continues to manufacture its variants, to date. PIA’s 737-300 aircraft mostly serve its domestic and regional routes.

ATR42

This modern technology turbo prop is the latest type inducted in PIA’s fleet. PIA’s fleet of seven ATR42-500 aircraft is configured in comfortable two class seating arrangement. This aircraft has enabled the airline to provide its valued customers the most convenient way to fly to far flung destinations of the countr.

Kingfisher Airlines

Kingfisher Airlines is an airline based in Bangalore, India. It operates more than 400 flights a day and has a network of 77 destinations, with regional and long-haul international services.^[1] Its main bases are Bangalore's Bengaluru International Airport, Mumbai'sChhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport andDelhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.^[2] Kingfisher Airlines, through one of its holding companies United Breweries Group, has 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red, formerly known as Air Deccan.^[3]

Kingfisher is one of six airlines in the world to have a five-star rating from Skytrax, along withAsiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways.^[4] According to a survey held in September 2008, Kingfisher was the most admired airline brand in the Asia-Pacific region.^[5]. In February 2009, Kingfisher Airlines had 904,000 passengers, giving it the highest market share in India.^[6]

Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya and his Jet Airways counterpart Naresh Goyal announced the alliance after a meeting on 13 October 2008 in Mumbai. The alliance will include code-sharing on both domestic and international flights, joint fuel management to reduce expenses, common ground handling, joint utilisation of crew and sharing of similar frequent flier programmes.

Gulf Air (Arabic: طيران الخليج‎ Ṭayarān al-Ḫalīǧ)

Gulf Air (Arabic: طيران الخليج‎ Ṭayarān al-Ḫalīǧ) is the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The airline operates scheduled services to 41 destinations in 26 countries across Africa,Asia and Europe. Its main base is Bahrain International Airport.^[1] The company's logo features a golden falcon.

The airline is not part of an airline alliance but is part of the oneworld global explorer fare. It has extensive codeshare services with other airlines and special partnerships with Jet Airways and Oman Air's Frequent Flyer Programs.

VC-10 at London Heathrow Airport in 1977

The turning point for Gulf Aviation came in 1973 when the governments of the Kingdom of Bahrain, State ofQatar, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the Sultanate of Oman purchased BOAC's shares in Gulf Aviation. The Foundation Treaty signed on 1 January 1974 gave each government a 25% shareholding in the re-branded Gulf Air, which became the national carrier for the four states in the Persian Gulf. Later that year, the airline's support of oil exploration resulted in the establishment of the wholly owned Gulf Helicopters subsidiary.^[1]

With leased Lockheed L-1011 Tristar and Boeing 737s joining the fleet, by 1976 Gulf Air had expanded its route network to include: Amman, Amsterdam, Athens, Baghdad, Bangkok, Beirut, Cairo, Colombo, Delhi,Dhaka, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Khartoum, Larnaca, Manila, Paris, Ras al-Khaimah and San‘a’. The fleet comprised 4 Vickers VC10s, 3 BAC One-Elevens, 2 Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 200s, and 5 Boeing 737-200s. Two years later the Tristar fleet had doubled, replacing the VC10s, and the Boeing 737s had increased to 9, resulting in the phasing out of the One-Elevens.

Airbus A340-300 takes off. Theundercarriage is retracting

A return to profit was announced, with the best financial performance since 1997 . Despite a BD30 million (US$80 million) cost to the business through fuel price rises during the year, Gulf Air recorded a profit of BD1.5 million (US$4.0 million) in the calendar year to December 2004, on revenues up 23.8% to BD476.3 million (US$1.26 billion) (2003: BD 384.6 million / USD1,020.2 million). The results meant the airline out-performed the targets set under Project Falcon, the three-year restructuring plan approved by the Board in December 2002.

The owner states of Gulf Air at that time - the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and theSultanate of Oman - confirmed their support for further expansion of the airline, through a new three-year strategic plan which would include re-equipment of the aircraft fleet and recapitalization of the business through private sector financing. Gulf Air was also placed on the IOSA registry following its successful completion of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).

Canadian Airlines International Ltd

Canadian Airlines International Ltd. was, from 1987 until 2001, Canada's second largestairline after Air Canada, carrying more than 11.9 million passengers to over 160 destinations in 17 countries on five continents at its height in 1996. Canadian Airlines served 105 destinations in Canada, more than any other airline.

Canadian Airlines was headquartered in Calgary, Alberta,^[1] and had revenue of approximately $3 billion at the end of 1999. The airline and its planes were acquired by Air Canada in 2001.

Canadian Airlines International Ltd., which was the principal subsidiary of Canadian Airlines Corporation (formerly PWA Corporation), was the descendant of five predecessor airlines. On March 27, 1987, Canadian Pacific Airlines, Eastern Provincial Airways, Nordair andPacific Western Airlines amalgamated to form the new airline.

PWA Corporation acquired Wardair in 1989, establishing Canadian as an important player in the global industry with the addition of new routes. Its major hubs were at Montréal-Dorval International Airport (now known as Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport),Toronto Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, and Calgary International Airport. Canadian Airlines streamlined its operations and went through the financial restructuring of over $700 million in debt, after the 1991 airline industry slump.

On November 1, 1996, Kevin Benson, then president and CEO, unveiled a restructuring strategy to improve the profitability of Canadian Airlines. The operational restructuring plan was supposed to be phased in over a four year period, addressing the main issues of cost control, revenue growth, capitalization and fleet renewal. It was also one of the founding members of the Oneworld airline alliances, along with American Airlinesand British Airways. The plan started off well but with the Asian economic downturn 1998, air traffic decreased and Canadian was suffering on what was previously its most profitable route.

Canadian Airlines International Canadien Ligne aérienne
IATA CP	ICAO CDN	Callsign CANADIAN

Overview

Overview

Airbus A300

In May 2008, American served 260 cities (excluding codeshares with partner airlines) with 655 aircraft.^[3]American carries more passengers between the US and Latin America (12.1 million in 2004) than any other airline, and is also strong in the trans/inter/intracontinental market.

American has five hubs: Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Chicago (ORD), Miami (MIA), Lambert St Louis International Airport (STL), and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, PR (SJU)^[1]. Dallas/Fort Worth is the airline's largest hub, with AA operating 85 percent of flights at the airport and traveling to more destinations than from its other hubs. Los Angeles (LAX), New York-Kennedy (JFK), and Boston (BOS) serve as focus cities and international gateways. American operates maintenance bases at Tulsa (TUL),Kansas City (MCI), and Fort Worth Alliance (AFW).

American Airlines has one regional affiliate:

• American Eagle Airlines, with hubs in Chicago O'Hare, Dallas Ft Worth, New York Kennedy, Los Angeles, Miami, Raleigh and San Juan.

American Eagle Airlines provides regional feed to American throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico.

American Airlines is a founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance.^[8]

Air Jamaica

Air Jamaica was established in October 1968 and started operations on 1 April 1969, connecting Kingston and Montego Bay, with New York and Miami^[2]. At that time the Jamaican government owned a substantial part of the airline, with Air Canada owning a minor share and providing technical, maintenance and logistical help.

During the 1970s, Air Jamaica expanded rapidly. Flights were added to Toronto andMontreal in Canada, to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Puerto Rico, toPhiladelphia and many other destinations, especially across the Caribbean. Long-haul services to Europe were started on 1 April 1974. Air Jamaica used Douglas DC-8s for a large part of the 1970s, but the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 727 jets became a part of the fleet towards the end of the decade when the government bought over Air Canada's small share. During the 1980s, growth slowed. Nevertheless, new routes were still opened, to Baltimore and Atlanta.

Airbus A340 landing at London Heathrow Airport, England

During the 1990s Air Jamaica continued to expand: the airline took over the Kingston-Nassau, Bahamasroute, which had been left by British Airways, began a code sharing agreement with Delta Air Lines and opened routes to Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix (which was later dropped), and to Frankfurt, London, Manchester, Santo Domingo and Ft. Lauderdale. The route to Phoenix was opened because Air Jamaica was looking for expansion in the American West, beyond its route to Los Angeles. In 1994 the company was partially privatized, with the government retaining 25% of the company and giving 5% of it to the airline's employees. It began buying Airbus equipment, including the Airbus A340, and began a feeder service, a frequent flyer program (7th Heaven), and an inflight magazine, named SkyWritings.

In December 2004, after financial losses, the Government of Jamaica took back full ownership of Air Jamaica. It employed 2,522 as of March 2007.^[2] The last private owner was Gordon Stewart, chairman and founder of Sandals Resorts and Beaches Resorts.^[3]

Airline partnerships

Airline partnerships

A Japan Airlines Boeing 777-300 with special Oneworld livery. Oneworld is the third largest airline alliance after Star Alliance andSkyTeam.

Code sharing is the most common type of airline partnership; it involves one airline selling tickets for another airline's flights under its own airline code. An early example of this was Japan Airlines' code sharing partnership with Aeroflot in the 1960s on flights from Tokyo to Moscow: Aeroflot operated the flights using Aeroflot aircraft, but JAL sold tickets for the flights as if they were JAL flights. This practice allows airlines to expand their operations, at least on paper, into parts of the world where they cannot afford to establish bases or purchase aircraft. Another example was the Austrian- Sabena partnership on theVienna-Brussels-New York JFK route during the late '60s, using a Sabena Boeing 707 with Austrian colors.

Since airline reservation requests are often made by city-pair (such as "show me flights from Chicago to Düsseldorf"), an airline who is able to code share with another airline for a variety of routes might be able to be listed as indeed offering a Chicago-Düsseldorf flight. The passenger is advised however, that Airline 1 operates the flight from say Chicago to Amsterdam, and Airline 2 operates the continuing flight (on a different airplane, sometimes from another terminal) to Düsseldorf. Thus the primary rationale for code sharing is to expand one's service offerings in city-pair terms so as to increase sales.

A more recent development is the airline alliance, which became prevalent in the 1990s. These alliances can act as virtual mergers to get around government restrictions. Groups of airlines such as the Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam coordinate their passenger service programs (such as lounges and frequent flyer programs), offer special interline tickets, and often engage in extensive codesharing (sometimes systemwide). These are increasingly integrated business combinations-- sometimes including cross-equity arrangements-- in which products, service standards, schedules, and airport facilities are standardized and combined for higher efficiency. One of the first airlines to start an alliance with another airline was KLM, who partnered with Northwest Airlines. Both airlines later entered the SkyTeam alliance after the fusion of KLM and Air France in 2004.

Operating costs

Operating costs

An Airbus A340-600 of Virgin Atlantic Airways. In October 2008, Virgin Atlantic offered to combine its operations with BMI in an effort to reduce operating costs.^[14]

Full-service airlines have a high level of fixed and operating costs in order to establish and maintain air services: labor, fuel, airplanes, engines, spares and parts, IT services and networks, airport equipment, airport handling services, sales distribution, catering, training, aviation insurance and other costs. Thus all but a small percentage of the income from ticket sales is paid out to a wide variety of external providers or internal cost centers.

Moreover, the industry is structured so that airlines often act as tax collectors. Airline fuel is untaxed because of a series of treaties existing between countries. Ticket prices include a number of fees, taxes and surcharges beyond the control of airlines. Airlines are also responsible for enforcing government regulations. If airlines carry passengers without proper documentation on an international flight, they are responsible for returning them back to the original country.

Analysis of the 1992-1996 period shows that every player in the air transport chain is far more profitable than the airlines, who collect and pass through fees and revenues to them from ticket sales. While airlines as a whole earned 6% return on capital employed (2-3.5% less than the cost of capital), airports earned 10%, catering companies 10-13%, handling companies 11-14%, aircraft lessors 15%, aircraft manufacturers 16%, and global distribution companies more than 30%. (Source: Spinetta, 2000, quoted in Doganis, 2002)

INTERNATIONAL

International

Singapore Airlines Airbus A380lands at Changi Airport. The Singapore Airlines was the first international airline to operate the A380, the world's largest passenger airliner.^[9]

Groups such as the International Civil Aviation Organization establish worldwide standards for safety and other vital concerns. Most international air traffic is regulated by bilateral agreements between countries, which designate specific carriers to operate on specific routes. The model of such an agreement was theBermuda Agreement between the US and UK following World War II, which designated airports to be used for transatlantic flights and gave each government the authority to nominate carriers to operate routes.

Bilateral agreements are based on the "freedoms of the air," a group of generalized traffic rights ranging from the freedom to overfly a country to the freedom to provide domestic flights within a country (a very rarely granted right known as cabotage). Most agreements permit airlines to fly from their home country to designated airports in the other country: some also extend the freedom to provide continuing service to a third country, or to another destination in the other country while carrying passengers from overseas.

In the 1990s, "open skies" agreements became more common. These agreements take many of these regulatory powers from state governments and open up international routes to further competition. Open skies agreements have met some criticism, particularly within the European Union, whose airlines would be at a comparative disadvantage with the United States' because of cabotage restrictions.

NATIONAL

National

Pakistan International AirlinesBoeing 747-300. The Government of Pakistan is the majority stake-holder in the country's flag carrier.

Many countries have national airlines that the government owns and operates. Fully private airlines are subject to a great deal of government regulation for economic, political, and safety concerns. For instance, the government often intervenes to halt airline labor actions in order to protect the free flow of people, communications, and goods between different regions without compromising safety.

The United States, Australia, and to a lesser extent Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Japan have "deregulated" their airlines. In the past, these governments dictated airfares, route networks, and other operational requirements for each airline. Since deregulation, airlines have been largely free to negotiate their own operating arrangements with different airports, enter and exit routes easily, and to levy airfares and supply flights according to market demand.

The entry barriers for new airlines are lower in a deregulated market, and so the U.S. has seen hundreds of airlines start up (sometimes for only a brief operating period). This has produced far greater competition than before deregulation in most markets, and average fares tend to drop 20% or more. The added competition, together with pricing freedom, means that new entrants often take market share with highly reduced rates that, to a limited degree, full service airlines must match. This is a major constraint on profitability for established carriers, which tend to have a higher cost base.

As a result, profitability in a deregulated market is uneven for most airlines. These forces have caused some major airlines to go out of business, in addition to most of the poorly established new entrants.

LATIN AMERICAN AIRLINE INDUSTRY

Latin American airline industry

TAM Airlines is the largest airline in Latin America in terms of number of annual passengers flown.^[8]

Along the first countries to have regular airlines in Latin America were Colombia with Avianca, Chile withLAN Chile (today LAN Airlines), Mexico with Mexicana de Aviación, Brazil with Varig, and TACA as a brand of several airlines of Central American countries (Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua). All the previous airlines started regular operations before World War II.

The air travel market has evolved rapidly over recent years in Latin America. Some industry estimations over 2000 new aircraft will begin service over the next five years in this region.

These airlines serve domestic flights within their countries, as well as connections within Latin America and also overseas flights to North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.

Just one airline, LAN (Latin American Networks) has international subsidiaries: Chile as the central operation along with Peru, Ecuador, Argentina and some operations in the Dominican Republic.

The main hubs in Latin America are Sao Paulo in Brazil, Bogota in Colombia, Caracas in Venezuela, Guayaquil in Ecuador, Lima in Peru,Mexico City in Mexico, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Santiago in Chile.

Asian airline industry

Asian airline industry

Air India Boeing 747-400. Founded by J. R. D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932.

India was one of the first countries to embrace civil aviation.^[6] One of the first Asian airline companies wasAir India, which had its beginning as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group). The airline was founded by India's leading industrialist, JRD Tata. On October 15, 1932, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) fromKarachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad. The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by Royal Air Forcepilot Nevill Vincent. Tata Airlines was also one of the world's first major airlines which began its operations without any support from the Government.^[7]

Philippine Airlines was founded on February 26, 1941, making it one of Asia's oldest carriers and also the oldest operating under its current name. The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time. The airline’s first flight was made on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech Model 18 NPC-54 aircraft, which started its daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) andBaguio, later to expand with larger aircraft such as the DC-3 and Vickers Viscount.

With the outbreak of World War II, the airline presence in Asia came to a relative halt, with many new flag carriers donating their aircraft for military aid and other uses. Following the end of the war in 1945, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on July 29, 1946 under the name Air India. After the independence of India, 49% of the airline was acquired by theGovernment of India. In return, the airline was granted status to operate international services from India as the designated flag carrier under the name Air India International.