Crowded skies

Courtesy of Open Skies international carriers are creaming off local international business to the detriment of PIA

There are anecdotal but reliable reports of Pakistan’s domestic airlines flying with less than a dozen passengers aboard. Airlines are battling for the market as well as absorbing escalating operating costs and there are going to be winners and losers, with Shaheen Air International (SAI) being one of the latter. The airline has put its entire fleet of Airbus A319s on sublease to the Royal Jordanian Airline which indicates that there is going to have to be a slimming of staff — fewer aircraft need fewer crew.

Whatever may have been the benefits of the ‘open skies’ policy they have eroded over time, customer choice has marginalised domestic carriers that cannot match the quality of service. A representative of SAI commented that the government appears to be favouring Gulf-based airlines — having said which Shaheen might have considered its business model a little more carefully before inducting the A319s to considerable razzamatazz.

Analysts of the aero-industry opine that the market is saturated and a new arrival, Serene Air, has quickly bitten into the paper-thin margins of existing domestic carriers. Growth is lower than forecast and the SA inductions tipped the balance rendering other airlines below the red line. Courtesy of Open Skies international carriers are creaming off local international business to the obvious detriment of PIA, the national carrier that has anyway been on a life support system for years. The SAI offices have been sealed as part of an ongoing tax dispute with the government — SAI failed to pay up — and it is time for the incoming government, whichever party wins the election, to add the ‘Open Skies’ policy, revision thereof, to the ‘to -do’ list. The number of people who can afford the option of flying is increasing year on year as the middle class expands, but it is in danger of becoming another opportunity missed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2018.

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