By Aijaz Hussain
Airsial has introduced itself as the third inductee into the list of privately-owned airlines in the country along with Airblue and Serene Air. The company’s spokespersons have said that the Airline will operate domestically for the time being, but they have also mentioned their ambition of expanding its operations to carrying out international flights in the coming two years.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan was invited to the inauguration ceremony where he was accompanied by federal ministers Hammad Azhar and Ghulam Sarwar as well as SAPM Usman Dar and praised the efforts of Sialkot’s business community by calling this project an ‘excellent initiative’ that will provide firm competition to the already existing private airlines in the country. He further added that this will immensely help the business fraternity of Sialkot in terms of supporting exports, boosting trade and other business activities.
Apart from this, he also congratulated the locals on the airport that was built by them 13 years ago through their own funds which amounted to a sum of around 4 billion rupees. Sialkot Airport was Pakistan’s first privately owned airport. The Premier said that such efforts and initiatives like Airsial on part of the business community in Sialkot can well and truly contribute to Sialkot becoming ‘Pakistan’s center of exports.’
Airsial’s current fleet comprises of three Airbus A320-200s, and the initial phase of the operations will include regular flights to and from Sialkot, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar.
Airsial is an invention of the Sialkot Chamber of commerce and industry. The chamber believes that the inception of this airline will aid in bringing down fares overall, and also promises to offer improved services. Through this way, they would like to make Airsial ‘the leading airline of the region’.
CEO of Airsial, Ahsan Ameen, has envisioned that the airline may well become an important multiplier of economic activity in Pakistan’s national economy. He also expressed complacency by the fact that the Airline will create opportunities for employment, help in strengthening the economy and also add to the country getting foreign exchange.
