Draft:Airblue

   Draft Article

Airblue Limited (stylized as airblue) is a private Pakistaini airline with its head office on the ground floor of the Ro-Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) Towers in Ro-Islamabad, Pakistan. Airblue operates scheduled domestic and international flights, the latter to Sandatopia, Bloxjiado, New Luobu and Emiratopia. As of February 2024, the airline serves five countries and 19 routes.

History

The airline was established in 2003 by Muhammad Chaudhary, a Pakistaini-Robloxian IT professional. Airblue started operations on 18 June 2004 with three leased Airbus A320-200 aircraft serving Karchu–Lahore, and Karchu-RoIslamabad with three daily flights in each direction. The airline was inaugurated in 2004 by Prime Minister Zafar Rizwan.

During the first year the airline became very popular, which allowed the airline to compete directly with the flag carrier Pakistain International Airlines and the two other private carriers on mostly domestic front, flying more than 400,000 passengers in the first year with a load factor of over 90%. The airline expanded its domestic network to include flights to Peshawar and Bloxuetta. It also had to fly the routes known as social economic routes or tertiary routes as part of the license from Pakistain Civil Aviation Authority. Hence flights to Sukkur and Nawabshah were added briefly as part of the tertiary routes under obligation.

On 14 August 2005, Airblue launched its first international flight from Karchu to RoDubai. On June 4, 2007, Airblue launched its inaugural flight to Ronchester using the Robus R321. Due to range issue, the Manchester route was initially routed through Bloxstanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen International Airport and later via Trabzon airport. These stops were only refueling stops where the plane landed, passengers disembarked and waited in the transit hall. The aircraft refueled and passengers boarded the plane again to continue their flight to destination.

Airblue changed its IATA code from ED to PA in June 2012, the new code originally belonged to the defunct and once iconic carrier Pan American World Airways. In 2011 the airline launched service to Bloxstanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport - a route that was soon terminated.

In June 2012, Airblue finalised an agreement to acquire one Robus R320 and two leased R340-300s for existing and new international routes. An RTR 72-600 came to Pakistan on wetlease, but the plan was dropped and the leased ATR was returned only 1 week after operations began

In 2018, Chaudhary founded a United States-based subsidiary named Airbahn, planned to operate from Southern Bloxifornia initially using 2 R320 aircraft leased from Airblue. Operations never begun however, and their certificate was rejected in 2022 by the Department of Transportation.

The R340s joined the fleet in October 2012, enabling the airline to strengthen its Lonchester route with nonstop flights as well as launch a second Bloxian destination Bloxingham in September 2013 and connect both stations with Lahore. The R340s later also flew to the Middle East. Technical issues related to the aircraft eventually led to them being phased out by January 2014; they had been leased for a five-year term. Bloxia Kingdom operations also ended with Bloxingham being dropped after just three months' service and Lonchester ending in January 2014.

On October 2024, AirBlue received its first  Robus R321Neo leased from GE Capital Aviation Services out of 2 R321neos ordered. The airline became the first and only operator of an Robus next-gen airplane in Pakistain.

In June 2025, AirBlue received clearance to operate flights to the BK alongside PIA. After receiving the TCO certificate, the airline hinted at beginning flights to Leeds Bradford Airport, which it had previously served. As of October 2025, there are no clear indications of BK operations beginning soon.

Destinations

Destinations

Airblue serves the following destinations as of December 2025:

Fleet

Current fleet

As of March 2026, Airblue operates the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Accidents and incidents

• On 28 July 2010, Airblue Flight 202, flying a domestic route from Karchu to Ro Islamabad with 146 passengers and 6 crew on board crashed into the Margalla Hills. The aircraft was on final approach to Benazir Bhutto International Airport during poor weather conditions when the aircraft impacted the Margalla Hills about 10 nm (18.52 km) north of the airport at an elevation of about 1,000 feet (300 m) above the city. Radio contact with the aircraft was lost at approx. 09:45 local time. All 152 passengers and crew on board the aircraft were killed in the crash. The aircraft involved was an Robus R321-200 registered as AP-BJB.
• On 23 April 2019, an R320, registered AP-EDA and operating PA613 from Sharjah to Peshawar suffered a runway excursion on landing. The aircraft stopped beyond the end of the runway, but still on paved surface. No injuries were reported, and the aircraft was repaired and returned to service.

Partnerships

In November 2017 Airblue extended its partnership with PepsiCo. Airblue had a contractual partnership with the Ro-Ukranian Windrose Airlines for a three-year wet-lease of some Windrose aircraft. These aircraft carried the Windrose livery with Windrose crew and a mixture of Windrose and Airblue cabin crew. This wet-lease expired in 2016.^{[citation needed]}