PIA to acquire 30 new aircraft in 2012

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD: PIA, the national flag carrier, would start acquiring new aircraft by 2012 enabling the airline to provide better air service to the people of Pakistan as well as attract passengers from other countries.

According to official sources, under a phased programme 30 new aircraft would be included to make the fleet sustainable and increase its strength to 70 aeroplanes.

Initially, the new planes would be acquired on a five-year lease. This deal includes an option to buy the same. With the option to buy later the plan is conceived to be cost-effective and will be completed by 2020.

The government has already approved an overall outline for the scheme and PIA was presently engaged in working out modalities to get the plan materialised.

The idea is to turn PIA into a profitable organisation with focus on cost cutting measures, in each and every respect, without compromising on quality, the sources said.

This procurement would be through financial institutions without any budgetary allocations or special government funds.

All 30 planes would be directly procured from the manufacturers of Boeing and Airbus aircraft.As for resources to get quality expansion in the carrier’s existing fleet, PIA makes all its transactions through commercial banks.

The actual cost for the procurement could be determined once transactions are finalized as each plane has its own specifications. The priority would be to acquire modern, fuel efficient and operationally cost effective planes.

According to the sources, PIA is currently maintaining its domestic and international flights’ schedule with a fleet of 34 aircraft, while five aircrafts were under scheduled maintenance after completing their required number of flying hours.

The operational fleet consist of nine Boeing 777, four Boeing 737, nine Airbus 310, six ATRs while the six Boeing 747s are mostly used for Hajj, Umrah and Charter operations. Besides, the Boeing 747s are used for supplementing the scheduled flights in replacement, if an aircraft is taken out of the operations for some correction or maintenance, as may be the situation for the maintenance of its flight schedule.