Pakistani sisters give wings to dreams, create history by co-flying Boeing 777

Two sisters working as pilots for Pakistani national flag carrier PIA have become the first such pair to fly concurrently the Boeing 777 aircraft, the airlines said recently. The Boeing 777 is the largest twinjet passenger airliner and can carry up to 450 passengers.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesman Danyal Gilani said that Maryam Masood and Erum Masood have been flying different planes but finally ended up in the same plane.

Pilot sisters make history for PIA by flying Boeing 777 concurrently, he said.

He said that there was no known record of two real sisters having flown the same weight category aircraft concurrently.

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Erum was recently upgraded to fly a Boeing-777, which resulted in the happy coincidence of joining her sister in the cockpit. It is a good news from PIA, which has been running in losses for years and is struggling to improve its performance. It launched a premier service on August 14 to attract customers. The two sisters flew the plane concurrently from Lahore to Karachi, Manchester, New York and London.

PIA is Pakistan’s largest airline with around 40 aircraft in total. The government, which owns the majority share in the loss-making airline, has oscillated between selling it off and keeping it on several occasions. The duo was able to turn their dream into reality after the younger sister Irum recently got her licence to fly alongside her elder sibling.

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It is reportedly the first time in the country’s, in fact South Asian, history that two real sisters captained a plane such as the Boeing to operate several flights together. However, Pakistani women have earned honours for the country in the airline chapter earlier as well.