By Air, Karachi

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I have a pleasant experience with Air Blue in a KHI-ISB-KHI trip. Plains are new & clean. Flights departed and arrived on time. The food was superb. All crew was cooperative. After making a very good reputition in domestic, now they are conqureing the international routes. For easier online booking facility Click http://www.airblue.com/index.asp. Karachi-Lahore-Islamabad UAN +9221-111-247-258

DOMESTIC FLIGHTS:

Karachi to Islamabad Daily 3 flights at 0700, 1030 & 1600 HRS
Islamabad to Karachi Daily 3 flights at 0930, 1300 & 1830 HRS
Karachi to Lahore Daily 3 flights at 0800, 1300 & 1900 HRS
Lahore to Karachi Daily 3 flights at 1030, 1600 & 2130 HRS

INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS:

Karachi to Dubai Daily Flight
Islamabad to Manchester Daily Flight
Lahore to Dubai Daily Flight

For more details visit at: http://www.airblue.com/Sched/View.asp

For in and around Pakistan:
Karachi - Islamabad or Karachi - Lahore

Quite cheap about $100 CDN for a 2 1/2hr flight
Airlines: Airblue and PIA (fantastic onboard service and excellent meals served on both)

http://www.airblue.com/index.asp
http://www.piac.com

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Jinnah Int'l Airport has always been the largest aviation facility - both international & domestic - in Pakistan. It is the primary hub of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

From the 1960s to 1980s Karachi was once a much busier airport. It was an online station of many major airlines of the world including British Airways, Lufthansa, Aeroflot, Swiss Air, KLM, Air France, etc. However, due to the emergence of Dubai's airport in the 1990s, acting as the "gateway between Europe and Asia", several airlines discontinued their service to the airport. The airport states that they handle almost 6 Mio passengers per year.

ARRIVAL:
Upon arrival we gladly went to the "Foreigners" counter. As we had been the only non-Pakistanis on our flight we were through in less than 10 min. Your passport & visa are checked and a small camera takes your picture. (As the whole affair looked rather serious, we tried not to laugh at the female officer's amusing name: Rosie Butt ;-)

Once outside the terminal there are plenty of taxis waiting to take you on the 30-45 min drive into the city. There are also public telephones (where you MUST haggle for the cheapest price possible...)

DEPARTURE:
Be prepared to be separated at the security check before entering the departure lounge. There are separate queues for men & women where your hand luggage is screened. Strangely, we as women were never asked to walk through the metal detector. They seem to prefer a "hands-on approach" with female passengers & we always got the patting-down treatment.

There aren't really any restaurants in the departure area... we saw a McDonald's and reluctantly approached, only to hear that any order would take at least 20 min because the food is cooked in another part of the terminal.
There are some snack-stands where you can purchase soft drinks, chocolate bars, crisps, etc. & for nicotine addicts amongst us there is also a smoking area.

It's not one of the best airport I've ever been in, but also by far not one of the worst.

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We decided to fly with PiA to Karachi as they had the most convenient flight timings for our hectic travel schedule. Even my Pakistani colleagues at work had warned me: "don't fly PiA! Even Pakistanis try to avoid it!" But, as hardened, brave (and slightly budget-concious) travellers we covered-up, dress decently, had one last strong drink at the airport and boarded the plane...

PiA flies to the following cities in Pakistan:
Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Sukkur & Quetta.
On March 11 of 1955, Orient Airways merged with the Government's proposed airline, becoming Pakistan International Airlines Corporation.

To be on the safe side, we had packed all our clothes as carry-on luggage. As we were attending a traditional wedding & would be wearing Saris, I didn't want to take the risk of my bags taking a subcontinental detour and not reaching us in time for the event. Some friends that had previously travelled on PiA had also given us this advice so we gladly obliged.

In the end, we were pleasantly surprised. We had purchased our economy class return tickets for Dhs 900 each (US$ 245) and it would've been even cheaper if the Islamic holiday of Eid al Adha hadn't been in that following week. The plane to Karachi was relatively new, albeit slightly cramped. The machine on the way back to Dubai was large, spacious, food (we ordered vegetarian meals) was OK and service wasn't friendly but also not rude.

I could imagine that domestic flights might not be so "sophisticated", but for our travel purposes (flight time from Dubai is only 1 hr 45 min after all) PiA was more than sufficient. I definitely have no qualms about recommending PiA as a quick & budget-friendly way to reach Pakistan.

NOTE: Before landing in Karachi you will be asked to fill-in a form with your flight number, passport details and lodging information in Pakistan. This is then checked at Passport Control at the airport.

on 07th december 2006, I was flying from karachi to lahor eon Shaheen Air. It was my first experience with Shaheen Air and is for sure the last one too..It was a shock for me when I enetered the plane..The cabin was dirty, seats wer ebroken and even the seat cover were stinking like anything..

Anyways..The plane took off b ut the moment it took off there wa sthis very prominent jerk in the plan making obvious for everyone that something is wrong with the plane..but it kept on ascending after reaching more ten 8,000 feets, everone realized that the plane i snot balanced and bend on one side..As an aviation analyst by profession, I am aware of the aircrafts technicalities. The old Boeing 737 with such a thrid class maintenance, anything is possible...Anyways after flying for about 20 minutes, the captain announced that due to some technical reasons, we are going back to Karachi. We landed safely in Karachi and then there was a mess...Ground staff were reluctant to disclosed what happened and started giving some redicuous and non sense excuses..!!

I would never ever recommend anyone to fly on Shaheen Air without a life insurance...Its perhaphs the worse airline with their fleet in horrible condition.

travelled by Air Blue from Islamabad to Karachi.
this new local airline i could not fault very friendly staff , clean fairly new airbus planes, great foiod they even had a free draw/raffle half way through the two hour flight, excellent

Karachi Airport is very far from the city center and modern housing societies in the city. So, you must keep in the mind the factor of Traffic and this much far distance whenever u have to take a flight FROM Karachi airport to anywhere else!

Jinnah Terminal & Allama Iqbal Terminal at Karachi Airport anf Lahore airports respectively are the two Best Airports of Pakistan. but Jinnah Terminal in Karachi is the Main HUB of Pakistan & Pakistan International Airline ! So, if you are planning to find the cheapest fare to Pakistan then try to come to Karachi first and get a local carrier to any domestic destination.