PIA to use wet leased planes till July

Officials decide to wait for the arrival of new Airbus 320s.

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to keep the wet leased aircraft till July 2014, when it expects to receive delivery of the Airbus 320s, the airline said on Wednesday.

“After healthy results of December and confirming orders for three newer A320s, PIA unveils a three-pronged strategy to combat its present crisis of fleet shortage,” it said in a statement, referring to deliberations of a meeting chaired by Managing Director Junaid Yunus.

The main objective of this strategy is to maximise revenue, it said. “In the second stage the newer A320s will be acquired on dry lease for which orders have already been confirmed by issuance of letter of intent and initial payments.”

The aircraft are being acquired from GECAS. The training phase for pilots will start from March.

“Stage three involves placing orders for 20 narrow body aircraft, as stated by the chairman earlier to cater to the needs of the national flag carrier as envisaged in the airline’s Strategic Business Plan.”

It said PIA has registered another record of launching the highest number of extra flights for Umrah during January 2014.

“We have the demand in the market and we are striving hard to capture it as much as possible,” Yunus said.

“During the last one year we have taken very difficult but bold decisions to turnaround our national flag carrier.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2014.

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