is a private
Airline based at
Quaid-e-Azam International Airport Karachi ,
Sindh ,
Pakistan . It was the first private carrier of Pakistan to operate the
Airbus A320 when it initially started. Airblue has been expanding even after experiencing competition from the other three airline operators in Pakistan. The airline mainly flies on most domestic routes including
Dubai International Airport and will fly to
Manchester ,
United Kingdom from 15th May 2006. Further destinations to the UK and USA are planned.
The airline was established in
2003 and started operations on
18 June 2004 with 3
A320 -200 aircraft serving
Karachi -
Lahore and
Karachi -
Islamabad with three daily flights in each direction. The airline was inaugurated by the current prime minister of Pakistan,
Shaukat Aziz who expressed great potential in Airblue.
During the first year the airline became very popular, which allowed the airline to compete directly with the flag carrier
PIA and the two other private carriers. This allowed the airline to expand into more cities in Pakistan including
Peshawar ,
Quetta and
Nawabshah . On August 14, 2005 (Pakistan's Independence Day) Airblue launched its first international flight from Karachi to
Dubai . Airblue recently added
Faisalabad to it's network and has discontinued flights to
Nawabshah .
It was the first airline in
Pakistan to introduce e-ticketing bringing about a revolutionary way to buy airline tickets over the internet. The airline also became a member of
Sabre System that is used by over a hundred airlines to help it with ticket automation services.
Even with fuel prices on the rise, Airblue has kept a strong hold in the Pakistani aviation market that allowed it to order ten brand new aircraft from
Airbus with plans of some regional jetliners as well. The deal is worth approximately US$ 790 Million.
On
December 6 ,
2005 Airblue signed an agreement with
International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) to lease two used Airbus A321 with V2533-A5 engines. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered at the end of December 2005 and will be leased by Airblue for five years. Also, Airblue has leased another Airbus A320 from
Atlasjet due to increase in yields on domestic flights.
Also, Airblue is expected to start flights to
Manchester International Airport from May 2006 for which slots have been acquired. The two Airbus A330-200 that have been ordered will be used on this route.
On
January 19 ,
2006 Airblue took delivery of the two Airbus A321, which it had leased from
ILFC . The aircraft were acquired to help Airblue's increasing passenger traffic on the Dubai-Pakistan routes. The aircraft have been configured to twenty four in business and 158 in economy class. One aircraft will be stationed at Dubai whilst the other will be put on the Karachi-Lahore flights and mainly domestic flights.
- The airline recently ordered 10 brand new Airbus long haul and short haul aircraft worth $790 million, to facilitate international expansion to the UK , USA , Europe and the Middle East from Pakistan . The deal includes eight Airbus A320 for the Gulf and domestic routes and two Airbus A330 for the Europe and American routes.
ready to depart
Quaid-e-Azam International Airport ,
Karachi ]]
Airblue has plans to start services to many cities which include:
Manchester International Airport ,
Manchester ,
United Kingdom - Daily service from
Islamabad starting from May 15, 2006
]]
#
Airblue celebrates one millionth passenger
#
Airblue's Fleet Expansion
#
ILFC News Release
#
Airblue/Airbus Deal Press Release
taking off from
Allama Iqbal International Airport ,
Lahore ]]
;Official
