Airblue Sets New Dimensions in Aviation Industry
('The Nation' - Feb 13, 2005 )
From Hina Mahgul

Karachi: Airblue, which started its operations last year, set a new dimension in the aviation industry. With new generation aircraft, spacious seats, elegant and charming hostesses, Airblue made travel most comfortable at an economical price. Airblue was the first to introduce E-ticketing in Pakistan, excelling its compatibility on others. It was a budget airline with a difference. Good food, good entertainment and most exciting hospitality, one could say that it was a value driven travel. Businessmen, the elite and professionals preferred to travel by Airblue, since its flights were 100 percent punctual. As a result, it captured more than 20 percent market share on domestic routes, in less than a year.

Airblue's single biggest contribution to the corporate world in Pakistan was that it convincingly demonstrated that one could do things efficiently, even in a typical environment as in Pakistan.

Latest technology was being practiced for the airline's advantage and its valued customers. Many corporate entities tried to create a paperless work environment, in order to minimize its costs and maximize its efficiency, but only Airblue had been successful to the extend that its management did not need offices to function.

The airline business was a dynamic business, where things changed rapidly and issues required a rapid response. From day one, Airblue had a strategy of developing a real-time control of its operations. It invested heavily in IT, because it allowed its management to respond to opportunities and problems as they arose, and not conduct a post facto analysis of situations.

In the business one had to respond within minutes and not hours and must have the tools to respond to the rapidly changing environment. The customer was looking for best value, one must be able to offer him the product, that he wanted, and Airblue had given its travels a real choice by offering a quality product at the market driven price.
Airblue had signed a 'Hosting Agreement' with Sabre of USA and used the same software that was used by over 100 airlines around the world. Airblue had been able to grab 20 percent chare of the domestic air travel marketing within six months of its operations.

Airblue's entry stimulated growth in the market. It depicted a 32 percent year on year growth during the last two quarters of 2004, way over the negligible growth elsewhere in the world in 2004. Airblue managed to register substantial growth despite a drastic increase in jet fuel prices, said a senior airline official.

Airblue started its operation in May 2004, when the jet fuel price in Paskistan was around Rs 16 per liter, which almost doubled to Rs. 29 a liter within just three months, much beyond their cushion provision for such an exigency. Airblue, through its operations efficiency, managed to sustain the drastic increase in jet fuel price, which was over 30% of the entire operational cost. It not only managed to enjoy a substantial share of the market within a short span of time but also had a profitable load factor of over 90%, due to the fact that Airblue was the only 100% e-ticketing start-up airline in the world.

Airblue had already added an additional route, Peshawar, during the last quarter and increased its frequency on the existing routes. It was also starting flights to Quetta from next month.

Airblue will move to international destinations later in the year, as allowed under the National Aviation Policy.