Pakistan International Airlines Corporation, more commonly known as PIA (Urdu: پی آئی اے or پاکستان انٹرنیشنل ایرلاینز), is the flag carrier airline of Pakistan, based in Karachi. It is the 19th largest airline in Asia,[2] operating scheduled services to 37 destinations throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America, as well as a domestic network linking 24 destinations.[3] Its main bases are Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, the Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore and the Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad/Rawalpindi.
The airline's secondary bases include Peshawar International Airport, Faisalabad International Airport, Quetta International Airport and Multan International Airport, from which it connects the metropolitan cities with the main bases, the Middle East and the Far East. The airline is owned by the Government of Pakistan (87%) and other shareholders (13%). It employed 18,043 people as of May 2008. PIA is the 19th largest airline in Asia that serves 35 international destinations in 24 countries which is more international destinations than any other South Asian airline.
