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Air Blue
IATA ED	ICAO ABQ	Callsign PAKBLUE
Founded		2003
Hubs		Jinnah International Airport
Focus cities		Allama Iqbal International Airport Islamabad International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Blue Miles
Fleet size		10+14 on order
Destinations		9
Headquarters		Karachi, Pakistan
Key people		Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
Website: http://www.airblue.com

Airblue is a private airline based in Karachi, Pakistan. It is a scheduled domestic and international airline operating 30 daily services linking seven domestic destinations and international services to Dubai and Manchester. Its main base is Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. Airblue makes a fuel stop at Trabzon in Turkey when flying to and from Manchester. This route is the longest route operated by an Airbus A321 aircraft in the world, and the longest scheduled route operated by an Airbus narrowbody aircraft (excluding the Airbus A319LR).^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Services 2.1 Self service check-in 2.2 One millionth passenger celebration 2.3 Joint venture with JS Air 2.4 Cargo 3 Destinations 3.1 Former 3.2 Planned 4 Catering & Ground handling 5 Fleet 5.1 Aircraft orders 6 Achievements and Recognitions 7 References 8 Additional references 9 External links

The airline was established in 2003 and started operations on 18 June 2004 with 3 leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft serving Karachi-Lahore and Karachi-Islamabad with three daily flights in each direction. The airline was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz.

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 58th Independence Day) Airblue launched its first international flight from Karachi to Dubai and recently added Faisalabad to its network.

Further expansion plans are already in the pipeline with flights to Manchester having commenced on June 1, 2007 whilst an application to start flights to Jordanian capital Amman has been submitted. Other destinations that feature in their long term plans include further cities in the UK.

Airblue was the first airline in Pakistan to introduce e-ticketing, wireless check-in and self check-in kiosk facilities.^[1] The airline also became a member of Sabre system that is used by over a hundred airlines to help it with ticket automation services.

Leading the way with innovative new technology Airblue became the first airline in South Asia and only the second carrier in the region behind Emirates to introduce the latest self service check-in facilities at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. The system allows passengers with baggage to obtain a boarding card through the touch screen menu without needing to report to the counter. Airblue plans to extend the self service check-in facilities to Lahore and Islamabad, and eventually to all cities on its network. 1

On March 22, 2006 Airblue celebrated the completion of handling of one million passengers on Tuesday at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. The passenger was Californian resident Samara Azam. The airline gave her one month's free travel on all sectors operated by Airblue, 12 complimentary tickets for her friends and relatives, a two night stay in any hotel of Avari hotel’s chain and a two night stay in Pearl Continental Karachi.

Airblue handles around 100,000 passengers a month, and this figure will increase when the airline starts operating new routes to the United Kingdom and other regional routes.^{[citation needed]}

To comply with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations the airline started operating on socio-economic routes by flying to Nawabshah in central Sindh however the service was soon suspended because of low passenger load factors and the unsuitability of the A320 aircraft for this route. The suspension meant that Airblue was not compliant with CAA regulations and therefore had to incur penalty fees. To overcome the issue of non-compliance Airblue entered into a joint venture with start-up charter airline JS Air to operate flights on its behalf on socio-economic routes. This represented the first time in Pakistani aviation history that 2 air operators entered into a joint venture arrangement. The first destination under this agreement was the port city of Gwadar which was connected to the Airblue network on 17th June and is served twice daily, except Fridays, from Karachi. The flights are operated using JS Air's 19 seater Beech 1900C aircraft which are specifically suited to serving low yield 'commuter' destinations. There is speculation that the Gwadar route will be followed by daily flights to Turbat and Sukkur and flights to Nawabshah are expected to resume by the end of the year.

Airblue have launched e-Cargo service to cater to air freight markets of Pakistan, UAE and UK. According to a press release, e-Cargo will broaden the base of cargo and permit certified agents to book freight directly online opening the inventory through the web and allowing more competitive prices, making the transportation of goods more affordable.

Main article Air Blue Destinations

Air Blue used to serve Nawabshah this may be resumed in the future through a joint service operated by JS Air.

Air Blue plan to launch Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka, Doha, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Oslo, Sialkot, Singapore and Turbat in the future^{[citation needed]}.

Air Blue are also interested in serving India and Saudi Arabia but that depends on re-writing bilateral treaty between the countries which currently only permit one carrier from each.

Air Blue is the only Pakistani carrier whose meals are provided by world renowned airline caterers Gate Gourmet, the Zurich based company run their own facility at Karachi Airport.

Air Blue is handled by Gerry's Dnata in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, it's the local franchise partner of Dnata which is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, owners of Emirates Airlines.

Another foreign company Swissport handle them at Peshawar.

As of April 2007 the Airblue fleet includes:

• 3 Airbus A320-200
• 1 Airbus A320-200 Wetlease from AtlasJet
• 3 Airbus A321-200
• 1 Airbus A321-200 Wetlease from Inter Airlines

Other aircraft:

• 2 Beechcraft 1900C (Operated by JS Air on behalf of Airblue)

• 2 Airbus A320-200 (delivery from 2008)

On December 6, 2005 Airblue signed an agreement with International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) to dry-lease two Airbus A321 with V2533-A5 engines. The aircraft were delivered at the end of December 2005 and are leased by Airblue for five years. In addition, the company has obtained another Airbus A320 from Atlasjet on wet-lease due to increase in yields on domestic flights.^{[citation needed]}

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 24 in business class and 158 in economy class. One aircraft will be stationed at Dubai whilst the other will be put on the Karachi-Lahore flights for domestic flights.^{[citation needed]}

On November 13, 2006 Airblue placed a firm order for 2 A320s directly from Airbus, and is negotiating for a further four. The aircraft will be dual configured with 24 business seats and 157 economy-class seats.^{[citation needed]}

On November 13, 2007, Airblue placed a firm order with Airbus for 8 more A320 aircraft. The aircraft will be configured with 157 seats in a 2-class configuration.^[2]

• Pakistan's fastest growing airline^{[citation needed]}
• First airline in Pakistan and only the second carrier in the region behind Emirates to introduce the latest self service check-in facilities at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi
• First private airline in Pakistan to fly long-haul international route (Islamabad-Manchester) with a refuelling stop at Ankara, this has since been moved to Trabzon.

• AirBlue to start flights to UK
• Airblue Introduce Self Check-in System
• Airblue celebrates one millionth passenger
• Airblue's Fleet Expansion
• ILFC News Release
• Airblue/Airbus Deal Press Release

• Airblue website
• AirBlue Authorized Travel Partner
• Airblue Fleet Detail
• Airblue: A new high flyer from Pakistan Air International Magazine, January 2006
• Airblue inks deal for ten Airbus aircraft Flight International

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