34
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday seemed to be looking at grabbing some market share from its Middle Eastern competition.
In a Twitter post, the national flag carrier reminded prospective passengers that it remains unaffected by a recent ban on passengers carrying electronic items on US and UK-bound flights.
"Did you know? You can carry your laptop/tablets onboard US bound #PIA flights," the airline tweeted.
Earlier this week, the US had announced a ban on large electronic devices such as laptops or cameras on board flights from up to a dozen Middle East nations.
Passengers flying to the United States from 10 airports will be allowed only cellphones and smartphones in the passenger cabins, senior Trump administration officials said. Larger electronic items must be checked.
The electronics ban affects flights from international airports in Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Cairo, Egypt; Istanbul, Turkey; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
The rules took effect early Tuesday morning and airlines will have until 3am Saturday to implement them or face being barred from flying to the United States, the officials said.
Following suit, the British government also banned passengers flying directly to Britain from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Turkey from taking laptops and tablet computers into the plane cabin.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (34) Closed
Mar 23, 2017 03:37pm
Wonderful opportunity to be seized to revive PIA. Since PIA is not on those carriers banned from flying directly into UK and US, most business travelers would rather take advantage of long flight with their laptops and tablets to get some work done.
Hope PIA management is innovative, forward thinking and smart enough to recapture lost passenger load, with improved service, better equipment, newer leased planes and proficiency to return PIA to its former glory.
Waiting to see if 'capitalization' begins in earnest or not. Or opportunity will be lost!?
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 03:43pm
Other than no laptop ban on PIA flights, the key to PIA's success depends on improved ground and in-flight service, attitude adjustment towards Business Class passengers and performance in line with value for money to be able to take full advantage of this opportunity.
I can see PIA grabbing a substantial passenger share on routes effected by the UK and US bans on electronics. Hope someone is paying attention and will not miss the opportunity presented here.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 03:51pm
Mere twitting is not going to cut it!
PIA needs to embark on an effective marketing campaign, improved service, better planes, and acquire stops in the Middle East hubs - Dubai, Doha, Amman, Istanbul and Cairo to pick up passengers bound for the UK and US. Especially Business Class passengers. That will tap into a lot of frustrated business travelers and others who want to enjoy their tablets and Laptops on long flights.
Actions speaks louder than tweets.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 03:57pm
Tells you how many brainy people are in PIA management team. A small tweet is all they can think of, and expect to gain passengers??
How about providing the level of service that will be the word of mouth to get free publicity for the ailing company? Better inflight and ground service. Better planes. On time Schedule. Good attitudes and dedicated marketing campaign to target passengers looking for alternative airlines to banned ME Air carreirs flying to the UK and the US.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 03:58pm
Nice try PIA !
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 04:12pm
PIA never advertise to carry passengers from other airports, they never capitalise or run airline like other do, they dont market themselves as Emirates to bring people to and from non Pakistan destinations and making Karachi as connection hub very unlike other airlines who treat their home base as connection hub, eg, Colombo, Dubai, Doha, KL, Istanbul, etc
Even people not traveling to Pakistan as final destination they have the routes to exploit but they only rely on people who travel to and from Pakistan only!
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 04:09pm
Very sad way of getting business without improving its performance.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 04:18pm
Thx for the information at least Mr Tweet, please consider passengers as humans when ur educated staff are serving passengers and carrying country name on their Badge. Everything starts from individual actions. Correct the roots, shoots and new arrivals will be straight right from start.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 04:42pm
@M. Malik it is definitely part of marketing approach but in tiny proportion, geoeconomic changes are main aspects which affect business of big size enterprises such as PIA. In past more flight transited in Europe to USA sector via Karachi before development of middle eastern airlines. These airlines have not only taken share of PIA but other US and European lines. These US ban may be controversial for benefit of their lines or might not helpful PIA but it would affect middle eastern lines to large extend.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 04:54pm
Wondering why PIA always do that? Did they do that intentionally? What US is doing they may be wrong or not sure about it but this is really an important step towards safety. Seems PIA is mocking.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 05:19pm
@aamir The only reason that PIA and Pakistan have been excluded from the ban is that there are no nonstop flights from Pakistan to the US. PIA flights to the US stop in Manchester for a security check. Excluding Pakistani airports from the ban does not imply that the US has any confidence in them.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 05:26pm
I still love Emirates!
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 05:34pm
@M. Malik couldn't agree with you more.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 06:06pm
It is not a smart move from PIA to advertise accepting passengers with lap tops,cameras and tablets on board. They may get few new passenger who can't live without electronics but they will also loose more passenger who will feel at risk travelling with PIA.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 06:10pm
PIA needs to improve quality of service from the time of booking until passengers arrived at the destinations. There is lack of management and PIA workers don't any clue about customer service. Safety is another issue. PIA needs to get new planes and kee the existing fleet in good order. A small tweet of electronics ban will not make PIA a big and better airline. They need to fundamentally revamp the whole structure.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 06:23pm
Good news for PIA passengers but PIA need to improve their services on board and ground and get smart and intelligent staff on international flights to UK and USA
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 06:44pm
@kashif siddiqui yes I enjoy also being treated like a second class citizen at emirate.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 07:09pm
PIA needs to get its act together first, starting with fixing the sky-rocketing prices that they demand.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 07:48pm
@kashif siddiqui Yup, Once you travel on Emirates or Qatar, there is no going back. May be Singapore comes a distant 2nd.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 08:12pm
Good thinking...PIA. But passengers needs improved services too. Best of Luck
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 08:27pm
PIA needs massive clean up in order to stay competitive! We did it in 60's, why can't we do it now?
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 08:50pm
Good tactic by PIA administration to increase their possible market share of US bound passengers from South Asia and the Middle East in this highly competitive civil aviation market of the world.
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 11:34pm
Until and unless PIA will improve its service nothing will happen...get rid of the corrupt and go back to the PIA standards of the sixties...Get a new Momi Gul Durrani...
Recommend
0
Mar 23, 2017 11:48pm
Pakistan's immaculate good image of being friendly nation to US with bits & pieces of terrorism involvement & support, once in awhile, here & there shall go for a toss if this great gesture of PIA is misutilised for friendly terror activities by pro-social elements in near future..! if business is lagging shut down, but this is not wise way to turn around losses to profits..! vinaasha kaale vipareetha buddhi..in sanskrit..!
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 12:10am
Such twit will invite ban on PIA flights
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 12:16am
Is Bahrain included in that list of ten middle east airports? PIAN Islamabad Dallas filght has a layover of some hours there and then what would they do with it if it's included in the list?
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 01:54am
@Mahmood PIA cannot do what you suggested, too many reasons to list here you have to be a hardcore aviation enthusiast or in the industry to know, also all the affected countries have top European airlines flying there which are not affected by the ban, so they can take those via their bases to US and UK e.g Cairo-Frankfurt-New York or Cairo-Zurich-London.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 02:09am
@riazullah Baig Bahrain does not have direct flights to US so its not on the list, since when are PIA doing Islamabad-Bahrain-Dallas? sounds like a code share service of American Airlines routed as Islamabad-Bahrain-London-Dallas with first few sectors on Gulf Air aircraft and London-Dallas on American Airlines aircraft. PIA to Dallas is code share operated by Etihad from Abu Dhabi, so it would be Islamabad-Abu Dhabi-Dallas ISB-AUH operated by either PIA or Etihad aircraft.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 03:24am
So who will die if laptop explode in the air. Only Pakistanis. Look for safety of passengers first then business and profitability.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 03:36am
This kind of marketing strategy sums up PIA's pathetic stage. Majority of the passengers sleep on thee long flights. Not even 2 percent of the passengers are big corporations CEOs that would be required to work on their laptops while flying.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 04:12am
Be careful. Dont get in eyes to be blocked
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 04:58am
@Shahryar Shirazi I prefer Singapore Airlines over Emirates,Etihad or Qatar Airways by the grace of Lord I have nearly flown all airlines one can think of and please fly Asiana next time and PIA without the doubt the best from food to National carrier, I hope PIA can serve alcohol like others that will attract some crowd. PIA YOU ARE THE BEST.
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 06:19am
Pakistani airlines needs to understand the sensitivity to this threat prior to using this as a cheap marketing trick. US and UK forecd certain airlines not to allow these gadgets in cabin luggage because of the high risk they pose. And here is one airline that is using this as a cheap trick to promote. can one get any better?
Recommend
0
Mar 24, 2017 07:22am
What will PIA say if tomorrow US bans it altogether from Its skies!
Recommend
0
