PIA, Turkish Air to expand codeshare agreement

The national flag carrier – the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) – and the Turkish Airlines have agreed to further expand their codeshare agreement as PIA seeks to resume flight operation to the European Union (EU) through alternative means.

PIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Air Marshal Arshad Malik undertook a one-day visit to Turkey and met Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Ekşi and chairman İlker Aycı. During the meetings, the two sides agreed to further expand their codeshare agreement.

The Turkish Airlines also requested the PIA CEO to strike a cargo sharing deal. Malik also visited the new Istanbul Airport and held discussion with its administrations. Malik was greeted at the airport with welcoming messages displayed with the flags of both the brotherly nations at huge screens.

A codeshare agreement is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number as part of their published timetable or schedule.

Typically, a flight is operated by one airline, technically called an administrating carrier, while seats are sold for the flight by all cooperating airlines using their own designator and flight number.

Most of the major airlines today have codeshare partnerships with other airlines, and code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances. Typically, codeshare agreements are also part of the commercial agreements between airlines in the same airline alliances.

PIA flights were suspended in the EU and later the US after the country’s aviation minister – Ghulam Sarwar Khan – revealed in June this year that hundreds of Pakistani pilots had allegedly dubious licenses.

He had made the revelation while presenting a report on a PIA plane crash that took place on May 22 in Karachi and resulted in the death of 97 people including all crew members.