The national flag carrier cannot provide any relief to its passengers as most of domestic and international flights are still being delayed even after three days of post-Haj operations.
Pakistan International Airline has cancelled as many as over 30 flights during the last three days, while almost all flights delayed for three to 15 hours, Pakistan Today learnt on Tuesday.
Source in the national flag carrier revealed that after completing the post-Haj operation on December 10, PIA had decided to return the leased aircraft to Hellenic Airways, but it could not become its grounded aircraft operational. They claimed that 12 aircraft, including two Boeing 747, one Boeing 777, three Boeing 737, three Airbus A310 and three ATRs, were still grounded at Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad airports, due to the absence of the much-needed spare parts.
They revealed that the national flag carrier had divorced hundreds of vendors to ink an agreement with a Dubai-based vendor, Transworld Aviation, for the supply of parts. They said the PIA management claimed that the company was offered $700 million credit line to the national flag carrier, which would not only help in averting the liquidity problem, but would also reduce pilferage of expensive parts. However, the deal could not materialise yet, but by abandoning agreements with existing suppliers resulted in that around 12 aircrafts had been grounded due to unavailability of parts, they said.
Flight operations statistics show that on Sunday alone, the national flag carrier had canceled 27 domestic and international flights due to the shortage of aircraft and mismanagement.
Operations data shows that PK874/5 Karachi-Colombo-Karachi, PK731/2 Karachi-Jeddah-Karachi, PK237 Karachi-Abu Dhabi, PK264 Abu Dhabi-Lahore, PK874 Karachi-Colombo, PK731/2 Karachi-Jeddah-Karachi, PK266/7 Karachi-Dacca-Karachi, PK729 Karachi-Riyadh, PK894 Peshawar-Kuala Lumpur, PK237 Karachi-Abu Dhabi and PK264 Abu Dhabi-Lahore were delayed for three to 15 hours.
Similarly, on domestic routes, most flight, including PK300 Karachi-Islamabad, PK653/4 Islamabad-Lahore-Islamabad, PK369 Islamabad-Karachi, PK303 Lahore-Karachi, PK511 Karachi-Turbat, Quetta, PK538 Karachi-Mohenjo Daro-Sukkur, PK582 Karachi-Rahim Yar Khan-Lahore and PK540 Karachi-Sukkur were delayed.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, a PIA spokesman tried to dispel the impression that flights were being delayed due to shortage of aircraft. He said only two or three aircraft were on routine maintenance, which was a normal thing in any airline. “In the aviation industry, you cannot say that aircraft have been grounded. It is a wrong impression as aircraft are on routine maintenance which is mandatory for safety and compliance with international aviation rules,” he said.
PIA cancels over 30 flights in 3 days
