Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Chief Executive Officer Bernd Hildenbrand on Monday indicated that the national carrier is targeting to have a fleet of 60 aircraft by 2020.

Speaking at the event of Rotari Club Karachi, he said: "In addition to increasing domestic flights, the PIA is planning to increase its flights to Paris, New York, Kuala Lumpur, Jeddah, Beijing and Toronto, while starting new flights to Barcelona, Leipzig, Salalah and Bangkok."

"PIA is considering a separate dedicated unit for taking care of Hajj and Umrah operation," he added.

Hildenbrand also pointed out that this year the PIA transported around 52,000 passengers during Hajj with more than 95 per cent special Hajj flights going on or ahead of time.

The CEO of national flag carrier said, "Improvements are being made in every department to bring the national carrier in the top 100 airlines of the world."

He claimed, "PIA has attained a regularity of 99 per cent during the past few months, and its on-time performance has reached 85 per cent, which is second only to Saudi Airlines in the region."

"The PIA has recently launched a cellphone application in addition to making PIA available on Expedia and Travelocity for providing a better experience to the public," he added.