2nd plane secured from Jakarta joins PIA fleet

Airbus 320 flies form Karachi to Lahore

KARACHI:

 

The second plane of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) brought back from the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta has also joined the air fleet as it flew from Karachi to Lahore on Saturday.

Since September 2021, PIA’s two Airbus 320 were stuck in Jakarta because of a dispute with the leasing company.
The PIA administration had returned the two Airbus 320 aircraft leased in 2012 in September 2021. The national flag carrier had suffered a massive loss in payments made for the parking of the planes.

The PIA was spending around $600,000 monthly for the planes parked at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Previously, the airline had proposed covering additional expenses, including aircraft maintenance checks, to the leasing company, AirAsia. However, AirAsia had declined to sell the planes bearing registration numbers: AP-BLY (msn 2926) and AP-BLZ (msn 2944)."

In October last year, a delegation led by Aviation Secretary Saif Anjum visited Indonesia to facilitate the repatriation of these two aircraft stranded at Jakarta airport.

As result of those talks, one of the planes was retrieved in December – landing in Karachi via Bangkok -- after the payment of $13 million.

The second plane also returned to the country last month – taking off from Jakarta and arriving in Bangkok, where it refueled to travel to Karachi.