During Haj operations in Ramadan and Eid Ul-Adha, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) receives a large amount of passengers to Saudi Arabia.
If I am not mistaken, having a large amount of passengers per flights, makes it possible for PIA to offer lower fares to each passenger.
On the return leg however, I've read that the fares are relatively high due to much less passenger load on the return flights.
Such high fares would only discourage passengers from using PIA to fly back to Pakistan for Eid holidays or any other reason during Haj season.
A good solution would be for PIA to reduce fares is by stopping at lower density routes on it's return leg from Haj flights.
For example, PIA currently uses it's Boeing 747-300 Combis on Haj operations. On the return leg the flights is supposedly mostly empty.
On it's return leg, the airline could stop in Muscat, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or any other nearby destination on it's route back to Pakistan. This will allow it to handle more passengers and possibly cargo in one flights, instead of sending several planes all over the Gulf region.
This method could generate more profits, not just by reducing fares, but also by having more planes to spare on domestic and other routes especially the Eid season being a high travel season in Pakistan and the Muslim world.
