Air Sial tops in regularity & punctuality while PIA tops in number of flights operated on domestic routes in latest edition of Gallup Pakistan Flight Monitoring Dashboard

ISLAMABAD, Jan 12 (SABAH): Air Sial tops in regularity and punctuality while Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) tops in number of flights operated on domestic routes in latest edition of Gallup Pakistan Flight Monitoring Dashboard (Week of January 1st – January 7th 2024).

According to the results of the survey released on Friday, Air Sial ranked highest amongst local airlines in terms of Domestic Departure Punctuality, with 87% of operated flights leaving within 15 minutes of scheduled departure time. PIA came in close at number two with 73% domestic departure punctuality. Fly Jinnah came in at number three that week with 50%, while Air Blue and Serene Air came in last with only 37% and 33% respectively.

The trend of Domestic Departure Punctuality over the last few weeks showed that Air Sial and PIA have had the overall most consistently high rates of regularity across local carriers, with Serene Air maintaining lower rates. Airblue’s regularity, on the other hand, rose from a low of 27% to 50%.

Air Sial ranked highest at 64%, in International Departure Punctuality, followed by PIA at 59%. Serene Air and Air blue brought up the rear with 33% and 28% respectively. That week, foreign airlines had relatively better punctuality than local ones overall, with Etihad ranking highest with 75%.

The trend of International Departure Punctuality over the last few weeks showed that Air Sial and PIA have had the overall most consistently high rates of regularity across local airlines. Serene Air over took Air blue with 33%, leading to Air blue having the lowest percentage of 28%.  Among international carriers, consistent and high international departure regularity is found primarily with Etihad at 75%. Emirates follows as a close second with a slow and steady increase amounting to 68%.

The top carrier in terms of domestic departure regularity had high rates of regularity towards the beginning of the month was Air Sial with 97%. Followed by PIA and Fly Jinnah with 93% and 83% domestic departure regularity respectively, coming close to complete regularity. Air blue followed with 75% and Serene Air came in last at 38%.

The trend of Domestic Departure Regularity over the last few weeks shows that Serene Air briefly recovered from exhibiting the lowest rates of regularity among local carriers to once again showcasing the lowest rates at 38%. Air Sial and PIA remain consistently high with 97% and 93% domestic departure regularity trend.

Air Sial carriers continued the trend of high regularity rates in their international departure operations that week, with all of their international flights operated on time. PIA followed closely, operating 96% of their scheduled international departures. Air blue and Serene Air came in last, with 88% and 65% international departure regularity, respectively.

Serene Air has overall had the lowest international departure regularity out of all local carriers at the beginning of January. Air Sial exhibited the highest international departure regularity at 100%.

PIA had the top spot in terms of domestic flights count, with 114 flights to various places within the country. Air Sial ranked second, with 69 domestic flights. Fly Jinnah came third, with 30 domestic flights, and Airblue and Serene Air ranked last with 12 and 3 flights, respectively.

Out of local carriers PIA had the highest count of international departures, with 166 flights leaving the country, significantly higher than competitors. Airblue came in second with 43 international departure flights, followed by Air Sial at 33 and Serene Air at 15. Foreign carriers last week had a lower overall international departure flight count than PIA did.

Gulf countries continued to receive the greatest region-wise volume of flights from Pakistan; the UAE (with 268 arrivals from Pakistan), Saudi Araba (201), Qatar (124), and others.

At the start of January, in the regional flights market, PIA ranked highest among local carriers in terms of market share for all regions that receive departure flight traffic from Pakistan (30% in Saudi Arabia, 24% in the UAE, and 13% in Oman). PIA and Saudia Airlines both had the highest percentage of flights in Saudi Arabia at 30%. Air Sial was the Pakistani airline with the second largest regional market share in Saudi Arabia and Oman out of local carriers overall, while Airblue had the second largest in the UAE.