Bookings on Pakistan International Airlines have plummeted about 50 percent since EU refused landing rights to its Boeing 747-200's/300's and Airbus A310s because of safety concerns back in January. Initially passengers were forced to pay hiked rates in February and March in a bid to get a seat on PIA, which flies directly to Pakistan from Birmingham, Glasgow, Heathrow, Manchester and Stansted. The scramble was due to the airline having just seven Boeing 777s flying from Britain to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi now from a total fleet of 33 planes before the EU ban. PIA had been warned of the ban for months but did nothing to improve its aircraft. Pakistan's government replaced Tariq Kirmani as the chairman of its national carrier last month. The new chairman, Zafar A. Khan, will have to deal with competition from private airlines. Neither of these gentlemen had aviation or airline backgrounds. PIA has promised passengers a modernized fleet by June 2007. Meanwhile the Iranian Airline Mahan Air (with A310 TC-SGC leased from Turkish Airline Saga) has been sub-leased by PIA to stand in on some of the PIA scheduled services to the EU. Travel agents are avoiding bookings on PIA aircraft or its sub-charters as they consider it too much hassle to make refunds or find alternate flights when PIA flights are canceled. Related Links