Karachi, July 10, 2019: Just after a month PIA adds another aircraft A320 in its fleet which was grounded for more than 13 months. PIA Spokesperson said. This is the second grounded aircraft after Boeing 777 that has been made operational and will now be part of PIA’s active fleet with no grounded aircraft left behind except for mandatory routine maintenance checks.
The said aircraft Airbus A320 registration AP-BLV was grounded in May 2018. CEO PIA, Air Marshal Arshad Malik after joining PIA had instructed to make all grounded aircraft operational.
PIA had earlier requested the Government for financial support for reviving the grounded aircraft which though, did not materialize. However, despite its financial constraints the airline utilizing its own resources managed to revive these aircraft. On Tuesday the test flight was carried out successfully and now the aircraft will be doing scheduled sorties.
These recently revived aircraft Boeing 777 (made already operational from June) and A320 aircraft will be utilized for PIA’s hajj operation. Due this PIA didn’t go for acquisition of aircraft on wet-lease as per previous practice despite an increased number of Hujjaj to more than 80,000 this year.
It will definitely go to significant cost savings for the airline. CEO PIA Air Marshal Arshad Malik has congratulated PIA Engineering, Flight Operations, Finance and Supply Chain Divisions for their sincere and untiring efforts and announced appreciation letters for work well done, the Spokesperson concluded-
