LAHORE, Sept 15: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is procuring fuel-efficient planes after disposing of the ones that have outlived their operational life.

PIA Managing Director Capt Ijaz Haroon said this while talking to reporters here on Monday. He said the loss of the national airline was Rs54 billion and it had asked the federal government to have the ownership of its (PIA) assets, especially its hotels in New York and Paris whose value was about $1 billion. Through this the PIA could come out of the financial crunch it had been facing, he added.

Capt Ijaz said that Rs1.5 billion which PIA owed to the Civil Aviation Authority was disputed one and would be settled with it.