ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has offered a number of discount packages on different domestic and international routes, including its flights to the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Canada, to increase its revenue by enticing potential customers, officials said on Friday.

The cash-strapped national flag carrier has been struggling to minimize its operational losses and enhance revenue by strengthening its business and marketing strategy, launching new routes and adding new planes to its aging fleet.

The PIA has been offering a 20 percent discount on its flights to Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, and Sharjah that is valid till August 12; 25 percent discount on Sialkot-London flights from September 11 to November 30; 10 percent discount on Pakistan-UK flights from July 5 to August 10; and 10 percent off from Toronto to Pakistan and 15 percent off from the rest of Canada to Pakistan, according to the company.

“We have been offering these discounts as part of our business strategy to increase our revenue,” PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar told Arab News on Friday.

He said the national flag carrier has also been offering a special 10 percent discount to senior citizens and students as part of the ‘Super Summer Discounts’ package to lure the maximum number of customers.

“We are getting excellent feedback from our customers around the world,” he said. “The PIA business team has been working to offer discounts on the maximum number of flights on European, Gulf and other routes.”

The troubled national flag carrier has been suffering operational losses of around two billion rupees each month, further aggravated by a fuel price hike and a depreciation of more than 40 percent in the rupee currency since December 2017. One cause of PIA’s financial woes is overstaffing since it has 13,500 regular employees and some 3,500 daily wagers. This implies the airline has about 450 workers for each aircraft.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Pakistan’s passenger market size has grown to 15 million passenger seats per annum. Out of this, PIA has only got a share of five million while other local air carriers have two million. The rest of the eight million passengers travel through foreign airlines.

Tajwar said the PIA has been operating a fleet of 32 aircraft and working to expand it further to capture greater market share and secure more revenue. “We have been trying our best to lower our operational and other losses through an effective business and marketing strategy,” he said. “The day is not far when our national flag carrier will be in profit.”