Pakistan’s Serene Air cleared for international flights

Serene Air (ER, Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam Int’l) plans to launch international flights to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2021, having recently obtained permission from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority to expand internationally. The privately-owned low-cost carrier has been operating domestic flights since 2017. According to Pakistani law, an airline has to fly within the country for at least a year before expanding into foreign markets. Serene Air initially announced plans to fly to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in early 2020, although it then had to delay them due to COVID-19. The carrier added its fourth B737-800 and its first A330-200 in order to support its expansion. It plans to add a further two A330-200s shortly. It intends to serve Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and Dubai Int’l and Sharjah in the UAE. The CAA said it was still processing the carrier’s request for designation on routes to China and the United Kingdom. According to the ch-aviation capacities module, Serene Air currently operates seven domestic routes. Two-thirds of its total capacity is deployed on trunk routes from Karachi Int’l to Lahore Int’l and Islamabad Quaid-e-Azam Int’l.