Pakistani in the Sky: Unpacking Pakistan’s Domestic Flight Performance

By Muhammad Ali Ozain

Intern – GDAP Summer Program 2025

In today’s fast-moving world, air travel isn’t just about getting from point A to point B – it’s a barometer of connectivity, economic activity, and national progress. But how do we make sense of the skies we navigate? Understanding air travel patterns requires more than anecdotes – it demands data. Unlike popular belief that has demonised PIA in terms of every aviation feature, it does not rank first in terms of cancellation ratio of domestic departure, instead it is Serena Air at more than 50%, followed by Air Sial and in the third rank is PIA. Within domestic departure, PIA is showing a persistent improvement in the monthly punctuality trend whereas, all other airlines such as Serene Air, and Air Blue exhibit a declining punctuality trend. Fly Jinnah and Air Sial demonstrate relatively stable and higher punctuality through most of the year.

In terms of destinations, three cities form the largest market share: Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore. Despite high volume, punctuality is a clear challenge: overall punctuality sits at just 43%, with Karachi–Quetta surprisingly topping the list at 54.7%. Islamabad–Gilgit, however, lags far behind with only 25.7% on-time performance, highlighting the volatility of weather-dependent routes.
Despite these challenges, the market share composition of domestic departures has remainedm relatively stable over the observed period. Fly Jinnah and PIA have consistently dominated the market, with Air Sial, Air Blue, and Serene Air maintaining secondary positions. This stability suggests limited churn in Pakistan’s aviation sector, potentially due to regulatory barriers to entry, entrenched consumer preferences, or constrained fleet expansion among smaller carriers.
However, as newer entrants like Fly Jinnah gain traction with relatively better punctuality, there could be a gradual rebalancing of market power in the future, particularly if performance
disparities persist.

For More Information:
https://galluppakistandigitalanalytics.com/flight-monitor-dashboard/