PIA London-Karachi flight delayed due to technical issues

Spokesperson says flight will take off from London's Heathrow Airport on Monday evening

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-788 from London to Karachi was delayed on Sunday due to technical issues, PIA spokesperson Danyal Gilani said.

The flight will take off from London's Heathrow Airport on Monday evening (UK time), Gilani added.

Earlier today, PIA decided to ground all of its 10 ATR aircraft in its fleet after the Civil Aviation Authority decided to hold shakedown tests of PIA’s entire ATR fleet.

The move comes after PK-661 from Chitral to Islamabad crashed in Abbottabad. Another PIA ATR faced “technical issues” late Sunday just before it was set to take off from Multan on a flight to Karachi and was called back to its parking bay, though the airline denied media reports that one of the engines caught fire.

A team from the France-based ATR aircraft manufacturer may join Pakistani investigators in probing the cause of the PIA plane crash that killed all 47 people on board on December 7.

PIA’s flight PK-661 en route to Islamabad from the northern city of Chitral had crashed into a hillside near Abbottabad after one of its two turboprop engines failed and burst into flames.



Among those on board was Junaid Jamshed, a former singer-turned evangelist and DC Chitral Osama Warich. One Chinese and two Austrian citizens were also among the passengers.

The turboprop ATR aircraft is being operated in more than 100 countries by 200 airlines, including India, that has almost the same climatic and ground conditions.

PIA Chairman Azam Saigol at a news conference after the crash had said the nine-year-old plane was deemed to be ‘technically sound’ when it last underwent a detailed inspection in October.

Engine trouble is initially believed responsible for Wednesday’s deadly plane crash, but many questions remain, including about the airworthiness of the ATR-42 aircraft, stirring new worries about the safety record of the ailing national carrier Pakistan International Airlines.