PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) has issued a Request for Proposals for the charter of two 250+ seat widebody aircraft for charter operations between June 2022 and November 2022.

Eligible operators must have a valid EASA and IOSA certification and be authorised to operate both to the European Union and the United Kingdom. Preference is for operators with passenger charter experience, particularly to/from Pakistan, and for carriers with a large fleet. PIA requires the operator to also ensure the availability of a backup aircraft.

PIA requires that the aircraft be 2004 builds or younger. It did not outline any specific requirements regarding types or cabin configurations, although aircraft with full-flat seats in business class will score higher than others.

According to a tentative schedule published by PIA as a part of the RFP, it is planning to base one of the chartered aircraft out of Islamabad International to operate to Manchester International, Birmingham, GB, London Heathrow, and Paris CDG. The other unit will also be based out of Islamabad but will also operate out of Lahore International, flying to London Heathrow, Manchester, Oslo Gardermoen, and Barcelona El Prat.

PIA's in-house widebody fleet comprises six B777-200ERs, two B777-200(LR)s, and four B777-300(ER)s. However, the carrier is unable to deploy them to the EU or the UK as it has been banned from both jurisdictions over safety concerns related to the widespread forgery of pilot licences in Pakistan. Although its current schedule shows Wamos Air (EB, Madrid Barajas) as the operator of PIA's flights to the UK and the EU, they are in fact operated by Jordan Aviation (R5, Amman Queen Alia) with an A330-200 under a long-term contract through May 2022.