AirSial
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AirSial () is a Pakistani private airline based in
Sialkot Sialkot (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and the List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 12th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined ...
, inaugurated on 9 December 2020. Air Sial had its first domestic flight on December 25, 2020, and started flying internationally, with King Abdulaziz International Airport,
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...
as its first destination, on 29 March 2023. International operations were extended to
Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...
in
Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
from June 2023.


History

AirSial was launched by the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry to improve air travel to and from the Sialkot region, which is a major industrial city in the province of Punjab. The airline initially served domestic destinations within Pakistan from its operational hub at Sialkot International Airport using a fleet of 3
Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...
A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...
aircraft, flying to other major airports within Pakistan. AirSial plans to further expand to destinations within the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. On April 14 2016 the company Air Sial formally started the registration of directors of “Airsial” under the supervision of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI). Fazal Jillani took over as the patron-in-chief of the project. At the time Mr Jilani said, "he hoped that the new airline would begin its operation by the end of the current year (2018)". He also said that Air Sial's management would prefer to buy Boeing 737-800 aircraft for its domestic and international flight operations. Later in June 2016, Mr Fazal Jillani said that “as many as 35 leading Overseas Pakistani investors have shown a keen interest in investing in the grand project of “Air Sial” airline.” The airline was registered by the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as “Air Sial Limited” company. In December 2016 Air Sial submitted its Regular Public Transport (RPT) request to the
Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) () is a state-owned autonomous body under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation, which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in Pakistan. ...
(CAA). On 27 October 2017 the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab, who was replying on behalf of the Minister for Aviation, said that a licence was granted to Air Sial Limited last month to start operations in Pakistan. According to Fazal Jillani, the license was received in the first week of October 2017. In the same interview, he said that "Air Sial shall take to air in May-June, 2018". In May 2018 Mr Jillani again gave a new date for the launch of operations. This time he said that "all the operational arrangements have been completed to ensure the early start of the airline before the end of this year (2018)". In December 2018 Prime Minister
Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...
approved the operations of Air Sial. However, the airline did not launch its operations in December 2018. The launch plan was postponed to the first quarter of 2019 which was further delayed.


Launching the airline operations

In August 2019 Air Sial's board of directors approved the lease agreement with Irish leasing giant
Aercap AerCap Holdings N.V. is an American-Irish aviation leasing company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with offices around the world. AerCap is listed on the NYSE with the ticker 'AER'. It became the largest aviation leasing company in the world ...
to acquire 3 Airbus A320 aircraft. On 6 August 2019, Air Sial Executive Board Chairman Fazal Jillani and CEO Ameen Ahsan signed an agreement with Aercap representatives. The airline's website became operational in September 2020. Throughout the year the airline continued hiring. The airline received its first 3 Airbus A320s registered in Pakistan as AP-BOA, AP-BOB and AP-BOC in November 2020 with the first Airbus A320, AP-BOA arriving at Karachi's
Jinnah International Airport Jinnah International Airport () , formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi International Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017–2018. Located in Karachi, the largest city a ...
on 29 November. The second Airbus A320, AP-BOB arrived on 5 December 2020 at
Sialkot International Airport Sialkot International Airport is situated 14 km (8.7 mi) west of Sialkot in the Sialkot District of Pakistan. It is the first and only privately owned airport in Pakistan. It was built by the business community of Sialkot. Before th ...
. On 11 December 2020, the third aircraft, AP-BOC arrived at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport.   On 9 December 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated AirSial at Sialkot International Airport. This was not the launch of operations. Prominent Pakistani fashion designer Nomi Ansari designed Air Sial's crew uniforms. The airline's inaugural scheduled passenger flight operationed on 25 December with daily Airbus A320 flights between Karachi and Islamabad and between Karachi and Lahore. The first flight was PF121 to Islamabad which departed from Karachi early in the morning on 25 December. Starting from 2nd June 2025, the airline will operate nine weekly flights to Dubai – seven from Islamabad and two from Lahore. This move signals the beginning of AirSial global expansion efforts, which have long been anticipated by aviation watchers and frequent flyers alike.


Destinations

AirSial operates flights to the following airports:


Fleet


Current fleet

The fleet operated by AirSial consists of the following aircraft.


Fleet development

AirSial initially signed an agreement to lease three
Airbus A320-200 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...
aircraft from
AerCap AerCap Holdings N.V. is an American-Irish aviation leasing company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, with offices around the world. AerCap is listed on the NYSE with the ticker 'AER'. It became the largest aviation leasing company in the world ...
. In an interview with PlaneSpottersPakistan, Chairman Fazal Jilani discussed the possibility of introducing
Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...
aircraft. On 30 March 2022, AirSial announced an agreement with
BOC Aviation BOC Aviation is the successor of the former global aircraft operating leasing company of Singapore Airlines, Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise Pte. Ltd. It is the largest aircraft operating leasing company headquartered in Asia, as measured ...
for two more
Airbus A320-200 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...
aircraft on lease.


Interior

Each Airbus A320 is fitted with a basic 3x3 layout in an all economy configuration, and has 180 seats.


See also

*
Airblue Airblue Limited (stylized as airblue) is a private Pakistani airline with its head office on the ground floor of the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) Towers in Islamabad, Pakistan. Airblue operates scheduled domestic and international flights, t ...
*
SereneAir SereneAir () is a privately owned Pakistani airline that began operating services in January 2017. SereneAir operates scheduled domestic flights within Pakistan and its first international flight departed for Sharjah, United Arab Emirates on 16 ...
*
Fly Jinnah Fly Jinnah or FJ is a first low-cost carrier (LCC) owned and operated jointly by Lakson Group of Pakistan and Air Arabia Group of the United Arab Emirates. The joint venture was announced on 3 September 2021. The airline is based in Karachi and ...


References


External links

* {{Airlines of Pakistan Airlines established in 2017 Airlines of Pakistan Companies based in Sialkot Pakistani companies established in 2017