Pakistani aviation market continues to see growth and the Karachi based Air Indus is in final stages for a comeback. The airline lately reactivated its website and social platforms and started sharing plans for its strategy. Air Indus launched operations on 28th July 2013 with a fleet of 3 Boeing 737-300s. Almost 2 years into business, they had to cease flight operations as their RPT was revoked on safety grounds. Air Indus is now planning for a relaunch with a fleet of 3 ATR 72-600s, and is also looking at Boeing and Airbus narrow bodies.
According to aviation division sources Air Indus has completed all the formalities for 3 ATRs, and these aircrafts will be landing in Pakistan very soon to grace Pakistani skies. It seems Air Indus plans to use narrow body planes on both the domestic and subsequently on the international routes, gauging by the vacancies they have announced for both Pilots and FOs for 737-800s and A320s.
The airline aims to fly its ATR 72-600 (with a seating capacity of 70 passengers) will be used on socio-economic routes such as Gwadar, Sukkur, Rahim Yar Khan, Skardu, Chitral and Gilgit. This will help to challenge the monopoly of PIA in Gilgit Baltistan as finally a private airline will provide a much needed alternative to the local populace as well as tourists by providing more frequencies on these routes.
At the same time the airline will heavily concentrate on trunk routes such as Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Quetta & Peshawar and provide an additional and economic option for the passengers. Cheap airfares will help Air Indus partly recover the market share on these routes it had lost out on when it suspended it’s operations in 2015.
Under the National Aviation Policy 2015, after completion of 2 years mandatory flight operation on the domestic circuit, airlines can commence international operations. Air Indus intends to make full use of this opportunity and is expected to cater to passengers travelling to Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran etc.
All in all, the re-introduction of Air Indus will signal the opening of a fresh chapter in the Pakistani aviation horizon. This event will absolutely cause the aviation industry to grow manifold and can be safely termed a positive sign for Pakistan as it will help showcase Pakistan as a safe and secure destination for potential investors to land in.
Editor’s note: It is great to see Air Indus choosing ATR72-600 and with that we believe it will bring back focus to commuter routes where passengers suffer the most due to capacity issues. With lower costs hopefully passengers will benefit from it by getting cheaper fares.