Serene Air Acquires Two Aircraft, Plans to Start International Flights

Serene Air has acquired two aircraft on dry lease to scale up its flight operations in Pakistan for different domestic routes.

The airline inducted these airplanes from foreign airlines including Boeing 737-800 and Airbus 330 which enhanced its fleet sized to 5.

Boeing 737-800 next-generation is a mid-sized passenger jet. It has a seating capacity of 162 passengers in a two-class layout or 189 passengers in a one-class layout whereas the A330 is comparatively a large aircraft with more than 250 seats. The carrier has been operating with three Boeing 737-800 airplanes already.

These airplanes will be added to the fleet in the coming months as soon as the air operations are normalized in Pakistan with airlines allowed to resume their flight services.

The management has planned to enhance the frequency of flights on domestic routes due to the increasing demand of passengers for traveling. The airline might add a new domestic destination and is likely considering commencing its international operations once the situation is normalized after controlling the pandemic.

Lower fuel price coupled with persistent demand of passengers in the Gulf region for a local carrier especially after Shaheen Air stopped operating, which used to operate over 3,500 flights per year, means that the time is right for another local airline to step up and take its place. However, the feasibility needs to be evaluated again after the outbreak of COVID-19, which has adversely changed the dynamics of business for the aviation sector.

Serene Air has captured the passenger traffic of the local market significantly as it recorded double-digit year-on-year growth of 29 percent for passenger traffic in 2019.

According to Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, the airline provided services to 1.75 million passengers in the financial year 2018-19 as compared with 1.35 million passengers in 2017-18.

The airline operated 5,686 flights in six cities in FY19 compared to 5,457 flights recorded in FY18. Hence, the flight frequency of the airline recorded a modest increase of 4 percent which shows that seat reservation of the airline witnessed a remarkable growth including its profitability. It has operated more flights than Airblue on domestic routes.

The private carrier commenced its flight operations three years ago and it has now been qualified technically to start its international flight operations on the allotted routes.


  • Airblue is not operating on domestic routes except for token flights. It used to be good but now its sole focus is international flights which has adversely affected local travellers due to lack of competition to PIA and Serene.

    CAA should ensure a competitive domestic flights envionment for domestic travellers by enhancing competition and forcing airlines to ensure a certain percentage of flights to be on domestic routes.


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