PIA Offers 10 % Discount To ICCI Members On Domestic, International Flights

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pakistan International Airline (PIA) Air Marshal Arshad Malik on Monday said the airline was offering 10 percent discount to ICCI members and their immediate families on domestic and international flights

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Feb, 2021 ):Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pakistan International Airline (PIA) Air Marshal Arshad Malik on Monday said the airline was offering 10 percent discount to ICCI members and their immediate families on domestic and international flights.

The CEO visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) along with his team and inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President ICCI.

Addressing the business community Air Marshal Arshad Malik said PIA was now focusing on corporate customers for business generation and signing of MoU with ICCI was part of such efforts.

He said with the improvement in airline's financials, PIA would consider offering up to 25 percent discount to ICCI members. He said the business community should facilitate PIA in improving its cargo business.

He said PIA was ready to dedicate aircrafts for cargo flights if private sector supported it with more business volume.

He said PIA needed an advisory board with representation of chambers in it. He said PIA would soon start direct flight to Baku from Lahore and to Uzbekistan from March this year.

Air Marshal Arshad Malik said PIA was a very challenging organization, but he was determined to address its challenges.

He said PIA in the past was not given commercial sense, but now with the efforts of his professional team, PIA has been put back on track.

He said unfortunately Covid-19 has badly hit the aviation industry. He said outlook of PIA would be changed and old aircraft would be swapped with better quality and competitive aircrafts.

He said PIA HQ was not being shifted, rather there was a shift in its business model as 70 percent commercial activity was now biased towards north and south regions due to which PIA was focusing on these regions for business promotion.

He said regulator should facilitate airlines.

He said a consultancy team has arrived Pakistan to prepare a business plan for PIA that would come out within eight weeks.

Speaking at the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan appreciated the initiatives of Air Marshal Arshad Khan for bringing crucial reforms in PIA to revive its old glory.

He said airlines played an important role in business and economic development of a country, therefore, improving the performance of PIA was vital to promote Pakistan's trade and exports to international markets.

He said many areas of Pakistan including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Areas have great potential for tourism and said PIA should start flights to Rawalakot, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit Baltistan and other destinations to promote tourism.

He thanked CEO PIA for offering discount to ICCI members and hoped that it would be helpful in exploring new markets for promoting business interests of Pakistan.

By signing the MoU, PIA has agreed to offer discount to ICCI members and their immediate family members on Economy and Economy Plus on its flights for international and domestic sectors.

The discount would be offered on request from ICCI secretariat letterhead with production of valid ICCI Membership Card by the Members.

Both sides also agreed to form a Coordinating Committee comprising of representatives of both organizations that will work to promote PIA and ICCI business interests, meet once in a month to further enhance the business relations and work in coordination for addressing operational issues.

ICCI will display PIA branding material at prominent places in its premises while PIA will provide ICCI with branding material for promotion of PIA services.

ICCI will extend support for promotion of PIA products and services from all its platforms including electronic, print and social media. ICCI members will declare PIA as Official Travel Partner and will be preferred travel airline for all their visits on both international and domestic destinations.