- A wide-body business class,
flying domestic, one and an half hour flight.
How cool is that? (upbeat music)
This is- - Hey.
- My friend from Dubai.
I can't believe that I just saw a Qantas A330 in Pakistan.
(upbeat music)
That's my first hot towel
on the aeroplane probably since COVID.
Whoa! Look at this plate here.
- [Air Hostess] Yeah, its Malai Boti.
- It's a chicken kebab,
but the smell, the charcoal, the grill.
The chicken is so tender.
This meal puts most US and western airline to shame.
(upbeat music)
220 plus million people with only
about 40 aeroplanes that amount to all the airlines.
(upbeat music)
The airfares in Pakistan remain very high,
not many people out of 220 million can afford to fly.
(upbeat music)
I'm going to have a cricket challenge
with my driver Saddam Hussein.
(upbeat music)
(men applauding and cheering)
(upbeat music continues)
(men applauding and cheering)
Good one. - You did a great job, Sam.
- You made it easy for me.
Fast Bowler.
You're the next, Pakistan's Imran Khan, right?
(Saddam and Sam giggles)
(upbeat music)
We are stuck in the traffic here. With me, Saddam Hussein.
- Hello Sam.
- Hey, nice fellow, driving me around.
We're heading to the airport
to try out a new private airline.
First time for me,
flying SereneAir A330 wide-body to Karachi.
How did you get this name, Saddam Hussein?
Is that your real name?
- Yeah, it's my real name.
And my grandfather gave it to me
because in the 90s Saddam Hussein was a very powerful man.
And later on his...
(both giggles)
- But you still have the name.
- Yeah, I still have the name of Saddam Hussein.
(upbeat music)
- [Sam] Hello.
- As-Salaam-Alaikum. Welcome on board, SereneAir.
How are you, sir? - Good.
- Please come.
(air hostess speaks faintly)
Please.
- Just got on board, SereneAir A330.
It's got a proper business class.
That's why I like a wide-body business class,
flying domestic, one and an half hour flight.
How cool is that?
Actually, it's my first time
on a private airline in Pakistan,
'cause all my previous trips were on PIA.
So, let's see how the private airlines are doing now.
Just see this, you can guess the previous owner
of this aeroplane, right?
A330-200.
- So, today it's Serene, right?
- Yeah. Trying out. - Oh, this-
- [Sam] First time trying out an airline
other than PIA in Pakistan.
- Okay. This is my favourite.
Since it started, I was one of the first customers
for this airline.
- Really? - Yeah.
And it's one of the best. - Really?
- In domestic airline, nothing compared to Serene.
- Really? - Yeah.
- [Sam] Hey, look at who's here.
- Hello! - Hey, my friend!
- How are you? What's up?
- This is- - Hey!
- My friend from Dubai.
He used to fly Emirates. - Yeah.
- And now coming home, flying on SerenaAir.
And he kept telling me to come and fly with him.
- Thank you, Sam,
as you gave us the opportunity to come here
and took out some time out- - You're such a character.
- So, today we are flying from Islamabad to Karachi, Sam.
And we're using a 330 service.
(airplane's engine humming) The flight time today
is going to be one hour and 50 minutes.
And the flight's altitude is going to be 40,000 feet today.
And we'd be cruising at around .82.
- [Sam] What's your name?
- So, my name's Ashvan, but you can say Ash if it's easier.
And it's really good to meet you. Huge fan of Sam, actually.
- Thank you.
- I'm always watching the show.
(air hostess speaks faintly) - Oh, lollies.
- In the whole of Pakistan, I think this is the only plane
that has this kind of a business class.
So, if you take any of the other airlines,
they're like executive economy seats,
so it's still the same seat.
So, Serene is the only one that's brought in an A330.
(air hostess instructing in Hindi language)
- I can't believe that I just saw a Qantas A330
in Pakistan, Islamabad.
Other than that the airport's been really quiet
around this time of the day.
Very few traffic.
(upbeat music) (airplane's engine humming)
- Take off.
(airplane's engine whirring)
(pilots conversing faintly)
(rattling noise)
(upbeat music)
- Your body is fully flat. - Yeah.
- Your body is fully flat. Wow!
- [Sam's Co-Passenger] That's about as far as...
- We are inspecting the seats to make sure the seats work.
I wish in the US and Canada,
they have this kind of domestic class.
We can do fully flats.
It's a slightly angle flat, but hey,
for one hour, three hour, even five hours, this is adequate.
I came down to Economy and I want to try out the seats.
It's not a full flight,
there're only about 160 passenger, they told me.
But the legroom is a little bit tight.
Much quieter in the front cabin. This is the rare cabin.
What kind of food you have today?
- We are going to serve some whole snacks to the passengers,
which choice of drinks they want
and some hot beverage as well.
- [Sam] Whoa! Look at this plate here.
I didn't expect anything when I came on board.
I was thinking it was a low cost airline or something.
- Really? - No, I didn't know.
- Okay, this is Malai Boti. - Malai Boti.
- [Air Hostess] Yeah, it's Malai Boti.
It's a traditional dish of Pakistan.
- So, chicken kebab. - Yeah, chicken kebab.
Yeah, you can say that.
And this is chicken fillet bread rolls,
bread rolls with chicken fillings.
And this is Dahi vada,
which is very famous in Pakistan, Karachi.
And that is butter and that is mild garlic sauce.
This is pudding.
- Hot towel. Wow.
I've been missing this on the plane for a long time.
Wow.
That's my first hot tower on the aeroplane
probably since COVID.
I've been missing this.
I think in Pakistan, there's literally no COVID.
(Sam's co-passenger chuckles) Wearing a mask,
not wearing a mask is not so-
- They had a lot, it's all improved now.
They'd cut food, they'd cut water on the plane,
but now it's all come back.
- Coming back. - Full service.
- That's good. - Yeah.
Which we really appreciate personally.
(air hostess speaking faintly)
- [Sam] SereneAir.
Okay, thank you.
- Sir, enjoy your meal. - It looks delicious.
Thank you.
It's probably the only domestic flight
where you'll get such a good, decent meal.
So, PIA other airlines have very good food in economy class,
but I think Serene
and their (indistinct) just goes a step above.
It's really amazing, but it's nice to get a meal,
whatever flight you're on in Pakistan.
You'll get something which is nice.
I can't say that for the whole world.
- This is one of my favourite when I came to Pakistan,
it's called Malai Boti.
It's a chicken kebab, but the smell,
the charcoal, the grill, and the chicken is so tender.
This meal puts most US and western airlines to shame.
An hour and a half, getting this much quality.
This is Pakistan, they really feed you.
Come with an empty stomach
'cause you will be very full after you leave (indistinct)
when we have to lose our weights.
I actually found your uniform quite cute
because it looks like you're wearing a skirt,
but you're not.
- No, we are wearing- - It's not a skirt.
It's a Pakistani dress.
- Yeah, it's a mixture of both Asian
and western dress. - Really?
- It's a very professional uniform.
- Yeah. - You can say that.
These are long- (Sam interrupts)
With some loose pants
and (indistinct) large heels with that.
(upbeat music)
- Oh, I guess this is the Serenity moment.
Beautiful sunset on our way, descending now into Karachi.
(upbeat music)
(wind whooshing)
- [AI] 100. (wind whooshing)
50, 40, 30, 20. (indistinct), 5.
(wind whooshing)
(airplane's engine whirring)
- During the flight,
I was thinking Pakistan has no more than 50 aeroplanes
in all the airlines serving 220 million people,
and there is a massive potential,
but the problem is the infrastructure has to be up
to scratch as well.
There has to be more investment into aviation
because aviation hasn't grown that much in Pakistan
with this much of population.
What is needed here?
- I think there's huge scope for investment
and hopefully more airlines.
And as the economy improves and connections
between cities become more and more important,
hopefully things will grow.
- Hey, that was a really smooth landing.
One of the best landing I have.
- Thank you very much.
- Your landing, right? - Yeah.
It was good condition. It wasn't that windy.
- You better be gentle, I full stomach of food. (chuckles)
- Actually, it was just- - Yeah.
- And the perfect condition to land an aircraft.
So, you don't need to do much.
- [Sam] Nice condition.
- And a 330, it's actually very easy to land
compared to the other aircraft which I've flown earlier.
It is actually very easy to land with
because of the boogies, the way they are positioned.
They are actually like this.
They aren't like this or like this,
they are actually like this.
So, it's quite easy compared to other aircraft.
Sam, this is Rehmat-e-Shereen.
This is the most famous
and one of the most oldest shops in Karachi.
For our sweets, we call it mithai.
So, can you see the collection they have for mithai?
(shopkeeper speaks faintly)
- Hi. - I love (indistinct).
- [Pilot] Trying out (indistinct),
do you want to translate and put Karachi?
- Ooh, this one is very sweet.
It's nice. It has a milk taste, like a cream taste.
Look at me. I can't make vlogs anymore.
Soon I'll be so fat like an elephant.
- That's all right. - But so good.
- That happens when you come to-
- I know. - That happens.
- So, one thing I've noticed when I'm travelling
in Pakistan is there are lots of frequent delays
on the flights.
It is not uncommon to see flights are delayed two, three,
or even longer hours causing inconvenient
for the travelling public.
An airline like SereneAir has three A330, a 4737.
When one aeroplane goes down, it throws out order scheduled,
and that causes a hour long delay,
which comes back to the question for a country
like Pakistan, 220 plus million people
with only about 40 aeroplanes
that amounts to all the airlines,
public airline, and private airline.
And that's really, really small.
That shows only 0.03 seats per passenger.
And that is severely lacking for a country size
like Pakistan's population.
The airfares in Pakistan remain very high,
not many people out of 220 million can afford to fly.
And if you look at the tax between Karachi and Islamabad,
it's 33% on tax on the tickets.
And that compares to India's Delhi to Mumbai,
it's 25%, which is lower.
So, if you have a higher tax transformed
into a higher airfare,
that means less people are able to fly.
And the goal here in aviation is to promote people
to able to enjoy the convenience of flying.
So, I really hope when the time I come back
to visit next time, there'll be low cost airline in Pakistan
and more people can enjoy flying.