PIA’s continued troubles
As if the embarrassment in international court battles over Riko Diq, Karkay and Broadsheet was not enough, the Pakistani government now looks set to cough up another huge sum in penalty. A PIA aircraft was seized by the Malaysian authorities over a $14 million lease dispute following a British court order. The Boeing 777 aircraft was held back at Kuala Lumpur airport and frantic efforts are said to have already begun to solve the matter through diplomatic channels. Alternative arrangements were made for distraught passengers to bring them back to Pakistan.
With more than $4 billion in accumulated losses, PIA was already struggling financially when flights were grounded last year due to the pandemic. Now, if the court decides the matter against the national flag carrier in proceedings fixed for later this month, PIA will suffer another hole in its finances. A spokesperson for the carrier has called the injunction issued by a local Malaysian court, which led to the impounding of the jet, as ‘one-sided’. The case pertains to a legal dispute between PIA and another party pending in a UK court.
According to orders passed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Thursday, the plaintiff of the case is Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited and the matter pertains to two jets leased to PIA by Dublin-based AerCap, the world’s largest aircraft lessor, in 2015. According to the interim injunction, PIA is restrained from moving two aircraft in its fleet — a Boeing 777-200ER with serial number 32716 and a Boeing 777-200ER with serial number 32717 — once they have landed or parked at Kuala Lumpur Airport until a further hearing on the matter later this month. Tracking data from Flightradar24 showed only one of the two Boeing 777s covered by the court order is currently in Kuala Lumpur. The other was last recorded in Karachi last month. The PIA spokesman says the airline’s legal team will resolve this issue soon. We sit with our fingers crossed.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 18th, 2021.
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