Sada-e-Watan Sydney ™
sadaewatan@gmail.com
Arshad Javed appointed as PIA Manager in India
Arshad Javed of PIA & Syed Zafar Hussain of Sada-e-Watan
Pakistan International
Airlines is the national airline of Pakistan. It operates passenger and cargo
services across the world. The main hubs of Pakistan International Airlines are
Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, the Allama Iqbal International Airport,
Lahore and the Islamabad International Airport.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) can trace its origins to the time when
Pakistan was still not born. In 1946, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of
Pakistan realized the need for an airline network for the incipient nation and
instructed Mr. M.A. Ispahani, a leading industrialist, to set up a national
airline, on priority basis. The new airline was registered in Calcutta as Orient
Airways Ltd., on October 23, 1946. Orient Airways purchased four Douglas DC-3s
and started operations on June 4, 1947 with a flight on Calcutta-Akyab-Rangoon
route. After the partition and subsequent birth of Pakistan, the PIA shifted its
base from Calcutta to Pakistan. Gradually Orient airways expanded its fleet and
by the end of 1949 it had acquired 10 DC-3s and 3 Convair 240s. In 1955, the
Pakistan Government decided to form a state-owned airline and merged Orient
Airways with it. Thus, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was born on March
11, 1955.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has several firsts to its credit. It is
the first Asian airline to operate a pure jet aircraft; first non-communist
airline to fly to the People’s Republic of China; first airline in Asia to
induct Boeing 737-300 aircraft in its fleet; first airline in the world to
operate scheduled helicopter services; first airline in the world to fly to
Tashkent; and the first airline in the world to start Air Safari with Jet
Aircraft.
Presently, PIA flies to 70 destinations around the world. In India, Pakistan
International Airlines flies to Delhi and Mumbai.
