PIA announces induction of two new aircraft

They will mainly be used on domestic and regional routes including the Gulf and Southeast Asia

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced the induction of two new aircraft into its fleet by early next year.

The move is part of efforts to slash losses and increase profit as the airline's liabilities continue to mount.

The airline management issued a tender for two A320 aircraft, which are at the evaluation phase and will be acquired on dry lease - without staff - in accordance with rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

The dry lease will be for a period of six to eight years and then the airline can acquire a new updated aircraft. However, "if you own an aircraft, you will have to stick to it," said PIA spokesperson Mashhood Tajwar.

PIA is burdened with liabilities of about Rs406 billion against assets of only Rs111 billion. The national carrier had losses of Rs360 billion by the end of 2017, showed an audit report submitted to the Supreme Court by the auditor general of Pakistan (AGP).



The apex court had instructed the AGP in May to conduct an audit of PIA for the past 10 years.

Most of the loss the airline bears is under the head of financial expenses as it has to repay loans of about Rs2 billion every month.

The decision was taken in an executive meeting chaired by PIA Chairman and CEO Muhammad Saqib Aziz. The meeting reviewed the performance of the airline over the last few months.

It was discussed in the meeting that due to increasing demand in the market, enhancement of the fleet had become unavoidable as the present fleet was not sufficient to cater to the demand, said a statement issued by the airline.



The two aircraft, which the airline is going to induct in the first quarter of 2019, will help increase frequency of flights on domestic routes.

"Acquisition of two aircraft will certainly help PIA in expanding its network and passenger base as well," said Aziz. These aircraft will mainly be used on domestic and regional routes including the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Currently, the airline has the largest fleet in the country with 32 operational aircraft and after adding two more it will have 34.

Two years ago, the airline had taken an initiative of running flights after every three hours on routes of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, said the spokesperson. "We have witnessed year-on-year growth of 10%, so there is potential in the market we only need to tap it."

"With the addition of two aircraft, PIA is going to start the new route of Guangzhou city of China and one destination in Saudi Arabia, the spokesperson said.