Pakistan Airlines is also well known as Pakistan International Airlines that has its roots back in the pre-independence era when Jinnah asked Mirza Ahmad Ispahani, an industrialist to create a flag carrier for Pakistan and at the same time, Orient Airways was launched on 23 October, 1946.
This airway started operating from kolkatta and also acquired 4 Douglas DC 3s that was put into operation on 4th June, 1947 such that one flight was on the Calcutta-Akyab-Rangoon route.
However, after independence it moved its base to Karachi and started flight services on 7 June, 1954 to Dhaka.
Over the year, Orient Airways expanded and by 1949 had 3 Convair 240s and 10 DC 3s.
The Pakistan Government in 1955 to have an airline state-owned and merged Orient Airways forming a national airline in the same year on March 11, 1955.
From, then onwards it is operating as Pakistan International Airlines.
Pakistan International Airlines is the flag carrier of Pakistan, located in Karachi.
This airline is well known as PIA. Its main hubs are at Karachi- Jinnah International Airport, at Lahore- the Allama Iqbal International Airport and the Islamabad International Airport.
The other hubs are at Peshawar, Multan, Quetta and Faisalabad linking the Pakistan metropolitan cities with the main bases.
However, the government of Pakistan holds majority of its shares leaving a miniscule with other investors. The first international route was to London Heathrow Airport from Karachi through Cairo and Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Italy.
In 1960, Pakistan Airlines was the foremost to fly jet aircraft. This helped the Pakistani Army during 1965 and 1975 Indo-Pak war.
In 2003, this airline founded a courier service, PIA Speedex extending to 12 Pakistan cities and now caters over 70 locations.
This is one of the renowned international airlines in India covering 35 international destinations.
The Pakistan Airlines flights service is available to US and Canada, besides the European countries such as Germany, France, Turkey, Italy, Norway, Spain and Denmark.
It also has good network in Asia and serves nearly 23 domestic destinations.
However, the Pakistan Airlines in India flies to Mumbai and Delhi. This airline is in the 31st position for being the largest airlines of Asia.
