The national flag carrier of Pakistan was established on 29 October 1946 under the name of Orient Airways. The main hub of Pakistan International Airlines is Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport.
On October 23, 1946, initially as a pilot project, a new airline, Orient Airways Ltd. was registered in Calcutta. In May 1947 an operating license was obtained in Calcutta which became the basis of the new airline. Mr. Ispahani became its chairman and vice-marshal of aviation and O.K. Carter became its general manager.
It has been a full two months since Orient Airways began operations when Pakistan emerged as an independent state. Orient Airways, along with several BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) aircraft hired by the government of Pakistan, began rescue operations and transporting people between the two capitals of Delhi and Karachi. Later, Orient Airways moved its base to Pakistan and established a vital connection between Karachi and Dhaka, the two capitals of the two parts of Pakistan.
Orient Airways was a private company with limited funds and resources, so one could not expect it to expand and become independent anytime soon. The Pakistani government then decided to create a state-owned airline and invited Orient Airways to become part of it. This merger resulted in the birth of a new airline, called Pakistan International Airlines, on 11 March 1955.
What is Pakistan International Airlines?
Pakistan International Airlines is the name of the national air carrier of Pakistan, which was established in 1946 under the name Orient Airways. Today the company has a fleet of 34 aircraft, and operates regional and international flights to almost 50 destinations.
The logo, created for Pakistan International Airlines in 2018 looked very elegant and light. It was composed of a gradient green (color of the national flag of Pakistan) sophisticated Arabic letters with elongated and curved lines, placed in the upper left corner of the composition, on the left from the enlarged “PIA” abbreviation in capital blue letters of a custom sans-serif typeface, with some unique arches in the bars, and a three-leveled inscription on its right. The whole wordmark was executed in the same typeface and color as the abbreviation but featured a smaller size of its capitals, thinner lines, and a darker and even shade of blue.
The Pakistan International Airlines logo has a luxurious oriental style. The palette combines a noble shade of gold with a deep yet saturated dark green. The wordmark features the name of the company in two languages. The English one occupies more space. The word “Pakistan” dominates the design.
The typeface has a beautiful, elegant style. You can feel it in the artistic serifs created with great attention to detail.
The very elegant uppercase inscription from the primary badge of Pakistan International Airlines is set in a fancy serif font with flared ends of the medium-weight bars. The closest typefaces to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Anavio Small Capitals Bold, or Serat Medium, but with some significant modifications of the characters’ contours.
As for the color palette of the Pakistan International Airlines, it is based on the main shade of the national flag of Pakistan, green, and gold, which adds a touch of precision and luxury to the composition.