Airblue

Airblue of Pakistan order for 8 A 320s at the DXB air show.

Analysis :

It is really pleasing to see a privately owned Pakistani airline taking the initiative of expanding its fleet of new planes bought directly from the manufacturer rather than leasing old used planes like its rivals Aero Asia and Shaheen Air do so. This order caught me by surprise as there was no indication what so ever that ED was going to be placing such a big order which in total net value was the second largest single order placed by a Pakistani airline. The record is held by PIA when it ordered 8 new B 777s from Boeing in October 2002.

The only thing that surprised me of this order was that no A 321s were ordered. It would have been nice if 3-4 A 321s were ordered as this aircraft type is the ideal one for ED to fly to the Middle East & BKK nonstop from KHI/LHE/ISB/PEW as not only can it carry 190 passengers but also 4-5 tons of cargo which is an valuable source of additional revenue. Apart from that, am happy to have read of this order being placed.