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Pakistan International Airlines (also commongly known as PIA), is, as the name suggests, Pakistan's national and international airline.

History

PIA can trace it's beginnings to the days when Pakistan still wasn't a nation. In 1946, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, also known as founder of Pakistan, realized the need of an airline network for the forming country. He called upon the help of mr. M.A. Ispahani, who was an experienced industrialist.

On October 23 of that year, the airline operation, named Orient Airways was set up, registered in Calcutta. February of 1947, three DC-3 airplanes were bought over from a company in Texas, and in May of that year, the airline was granted a license to fly. Services were started in June, with the run from Calcutta to Akyab and Rangoon. This was the first post war airline flight by an Indian registered airline company.

Two months after this service began, Pakistan as a nation was formed. Orient Airways began relief flights to the new nation, and soon after, it mved operations to Karachi, where it began the important route from Karachi to Dacca. In addition, their initial domestic route in Pakistan was esrtablished, from Karachi to Lahore to Peshawar, and another one covered Karachi to Quetta to Lahore.

Due to increasing passenger demand, the airline had to increase it's fleet before the end of the 1940s, and this caused financial trouble to the airline. The government of Pakistan, realizing the operation was failing economically, asked the airline to merge into a new, national airline that the government was planning on creating. Eventually, on March 11 of 1955, Orient Airways ceded, and, with the Government's proposed airline, it became Pakistan International Airways.

That year also, the airline opened their first route under the PIA name, when it began flying from Karachi to London, via Cairo and Rome. The start of the flight to England's largest metropolis allowed PIA to earn the cash it needed to buy new airplanes.

1956 saw PIA ordering two Super Constellations and five Viscount planes.

In 1959, Nur Khan was named managing director pf PIA, thus beginning what many in the airline industry call the golden years of PIA.

In March of 1960, PIA became the first Asian airline to enter the jet age when Boeing 707 service was introduced. In 1961, services were begun to JFK International Airport in New York, then Idlewild Airport. In 1962, orders were placed for Boeing 720's, Fokker F-27's and Sikorsky helicopters. One of their 720's broke a record that year, when it flew from Karachi to London non-stop in under 7 hours.

1964 was another history making year for PIA because it became the first airline from a non-communist country to fly to The People's Republic of China. As the India-Pakistan war broke in 1965, PIA helped the Pakistani forces with logistics and transport. In 1966, the Viscounts were phased out, substituted by Tridents.

In 1967, PIA installed Pakistan's first computer, an IBM model.

The 1970s saw the resuming of trans-atlantic fights for the airline and many new destinations. It appiled in 1972 to operate to Libya, and a agreement was signed with Yugoslav airline JAT, also on that year. In 1973, McDonell Douglas DC-10's arrived. 1974 saw the start of air freight service, as well as a cargo service to New York. In 1975, new uniforms were given to PIA stewardesses, and in 1976, leased Boeing 747's were introduced, the first time the airline had such a type. In 1978, the airline bought their first own planes of that type, which have since become a staple of the airline's fleet.