KARACHI: The two Boeing 737-800 aircraft obtained by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on wet lease from a Turkish operator earlier this week were put into operation on Friday.
According to PIA Spokesman Danyal Gilani, “No other airline in Pakistan is currently using this aircraft.”
The aircraft have been obtained for a period of three months and two more similar aircraft are expected to join PIA’s fleet in the coming weeks.
The decision of acquiring these aircraft has been taken in order to meet the immediate shortage of aircraft, which was created due to the grounding of four aged A-310 aircraft at the end of last year.
The narrow-body aircraft have a capacity of carrying 189 passengers in all-economy configuration.
The two aircraft would operate six flights today which include PK-316 (Karachi-Lahore), PK-317 (Lahore-Karachi), PK-306 (Karachi-Lahore), PK-307 (Lahore-Karachi), PK-380 (Karachi-Multan-Islamabad) and PK-319 (Islamabad-Karachi).