KARACHI, March 31: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suffered a loss of Rs13.4 billion during the financial year of 2007, which turned out to be an exceptionally difficult year for the national carrier due to many reasons.

This was stated by PIA Chairman Kamran Rasool while addressing the shareholders at the 51st annual general meeting.

He made specific reference to the unexpected rise in fuel prices in second half of the year which severely impacted the operating cost. As a consequence, the planned recovery remained elusive and key financial targets were missed.

With regard to the fleet modernisation plan, the chairman said that the PIA had inducted two more Boeing 777s during 2007, apart from the earlier induction of the six new Boeing 777 aircraft. The PIA also added four ATR-42 aircraft in the first half of 2007 increasing its ATR-42 fleet to seven. With these additions, the average age of the fleet has come down from 14 years in 2006 to 13 years in December 2007.

He said that one more Boeing 777s had joined PIA fleet a few days back. Furthermore, seven new Airbus 320-200 aircraft would be inducted in PIA fleet with deliveries starting from 2009 onwards. The younger fleet would bring efficiency in fuel consumption, reduction in aircraft maintenance cost and improved customer comfort, he added.

During the meeting, two new members of the board namely Mubashir Iftikhar and Malik Nazir Ahmad were elected.