Review of AirSial flight Islamabad Karachi in Economy

Airline AirSial
Flight PF124
Class Economy
Seat 27A
Aircraft Airbus A320
Flight time 01:50
Take-off 23 Oct 21, 16:00
Arrival at 23 Oct 21, 17:50
PF 2 reviews
Saad786
By 4288
Published on 1st November 2021

AirSial, Pakistan's newest private airline, launched operations in December 2020 and has since been serving several domestic destinations with Karachi's Jinnah International Airport being its hub. As of now, AirSial's fleet consists of three Airbus A320-200 aircraft.

On October 23, 2021 I traveled with AirSial from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, to Karachi.

As the New Islamabad International Airport is a bit far from the main city, I left at around 13:30 and reached the airport at about 14:20. The check-in was smooth and by 14:45 I was in the waiting lounge. There is not much to do at ISB's domestic terminal as there's barely any cafes or shops as of yet, unless one can access a lounge. 
 
Calls for boarding started around 15:30. I had the luck of choosing 27A, a window seat during check-in.
The glass had some scratches on it, which was a little off-putting. On our left, we could see an Airblue A320 also headed for Karachi. 


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The legroom was decent; better than many planes I've been on. The seat was also quite comfortable.


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The A320-200 Safety Card, written in both Urdu and English.


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Taxiing to the runway. A PIA 777-200ER and an Interjet A320, though I'm not sure what this airline was doing here.


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Cabin view just before takeoff:


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A view of IIA just after takeoff. A British Airways 787 can be seen at the international terminal:


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Soon after takeoff, the captain introduced himself and the rest of the crew and announced that this was AirSial's first day of meal service since its launch and that we would be getting meals in a few minutes. Since mid-2020, the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan prohibited domestic airlines from serving inflight meals and beverages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, starting October 2021, these restrictions were lifted.


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Meal Service:
In a first, AirSial became Pakistan's first airline to serve a two-course meal. This was quite impressive, and a lot of food for flight that's less than two hours.

The meal consisted of two main courses:
1. Barbecued Chicken Haryali (Green Chicken) with Stir-fried Noodles
2. Chicken Handi with a vegetable curry and Pulao (rice cooked in broth)

A salad, raita (yogurt mixture), and a piece of marble cake were also served with plastic cutlery. Drinks were served a few minutes later which consisted of various sodas and water. The meal was fresh and everything tasted good.  


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Tea was also served shorty after meal service.


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Cabin view as the captain announced our descent:


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Arriving at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport at around 17:55:


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Verdict

AirSial

8.6/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi7.0
Meal/catering10.0

Islamabad - ISB

7.6/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.5
Services6.0
Cleanliness9.0

Karachi - KHI

8.6/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.5
Cleanliness7.0

Conclusion

AirSial is, in my opinion, the best domestic airline currently operating in Pakistan. I hope they maintain their standards.

Related

9 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 584715 by
    Leadership TEAM BRONZE 5460 Comments
    Hi Saad, thank you for sharing your experience with us.
    If the cabin is pretty standard (nice mood lighting though) I am impressed by this full meal tray on a short domestic flight in Y class! This must be one of the best catering in the world for such a flight.
  • Comment 584722 by
    dimiJet 27 Comments
    Hello Saad,, a very interesting flight report indeed. It's always a pleasure to read reports from parts of the world where coverage by flight reporters is rather low not to say inexistant ! Many thanks for that and hope to read more from your travel experiences in the future. As for the flight itself, what an amazing level of service by today's worldwide standards ! Impressive catering by quality and quantity. Let's hope AirSial will manage to keep this service quality in the future and long life to them !
  • Comment 584743 by
    Aigle_voyageur 838 Comments
    Hello Saad and thank you for sharing this FR. :)

    Despite the aircraft seems to be a second-hand by judging the state of the cabin, it sure looks very comfortable indeed. And having a complete meal service on this rather short flight is impressive. Let's see if they'll expand their activities ; their fleet and eventually their network...

    Have safe flights. ;)
  • Comment 584950 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6668 Comments
    Wow, that's a very impressive meal service for a 1.5h domestic flight!
    Thanks for sharing!
  • Comment 609554 by
    RomeoAlfaFoxtrot 21 Comments
    Hi Saad, thanks for your report !
    I thought I was the first one to review AirSial (https://flight-report.com/en/report/58046/airsial-pf184-quetta-uet-karachi-khi) but in fact you reported it before !! You were lucky to get catering on your flight which I did not (flew from Quetta to KHI).
    Cheers ! Allah hafiz.

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