KARACHI: Airblue, Pakistan's fastest growing airline, announced on Tuesday the record travel of over 100,000 passengers and the highest monthly revenue ever on its network in the month of August.

The Airblue Managing Director, Syed Nasir Ali said that the airline has been able to achieve this performance due to continuous growth in its network and induction of the latest in industry systems.

He cited the addition of the Islamabad to Manchester flights, the first ever long-haul flights by a private sector Pakistani airline, as a major contributor to these record revenues and number of passengers flown.

Airblue was launched in June 2004 with 12 daily flights from Karachi to Lahore and Islamabad; the airline now operates 26 daily flights to 7 domestic destinations in addition to Dubai and Manchester.

Pakistan's airline of first choice, Airblue, started its first long-haul operation to Europe with 4 weekly flights from Islamabad to Manchester on June 1 this year, and an additional flight was added in late June to increase capacity on the sector to 5 weekly flights at convenient scheduled timings from both Islamabad and Manchester.

Airblue has unveiled extensive growth plans with the purchase of 14 new-generation aircraft, with deliveries starting in 20 months, and route network growth with additional frequencies on existing destinations and opening of new routes in Europe and the Middle East in addition to the domestic market.

The airline plans to increase its flights from Islamabad to Manchester to a daily frequency and start flights on the Islamabad to Lahore sector in the near future.

Pakistan's youngest and largest private airline, Airblue, has over 40% of the market share on competitive Domestic routes and enjoys a favored status amongst passengers in the Dubai and Manchester markets.

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