LAHORE: Despite its ‘successful and profitable’ experience of acquiring four aircraft on ‘wet lease’, the PIA management has decided not to retain them after April, under pressure from within the company.

Now it will acquire another five on ‘dry lease’ once the wet lease expires.

Under wet lease agreements, pilots, cabin crew, maintenance and insurance are also provided by the airline with which the PIA enters into such an agreement. Dry lease means the leaser provides only the aircraft.

The PIA had acquired last month four aircraft on wet lease -- two each from Turkish and Czech Republic airlines. All the four planes operating on international, Gulf, India, Bangladesh and domestic routes are earning profits unlike other PIA operations. Besides, there are no complaints of delays, a routine with other PIA flights.

PIA officials told Dawn on Monday that the company’s pilots did not like the management’s decision to accept “foreign pilots” because it highlighted their own poor performance and put immense pressure on the board to scrap wet lease contracts and go back to dry lease contracts.

While flight delays are a routine matter for the PIA, which has caused a loss of Rs180 billion over time, its pilots have recently come into public focus because of their (mis)behaviour and failure to adhere to the flying standards. One of its pilots was recently arrested and jailed for nine months in London. Another pilot refused to fly until the company ordered breakfast of his choice and yet another offloaded a member of the cabin crew when she refused to dust off the cockpit on his order.

The PIA had to rush to acquire four 189-seater 737-800 planes on wet lease because of acute shortage of aircraft to run its operations. Of the 34 planes the company owns, nine have been grounded.

The PIA used to operate 150 flights a day on domestic and international routes during its days that has now come down to 80 to 90. With the induction of the four aircraft on wet lease the number of flights went up to 105-110.

A pilot told this reporter that wet lease was a financial burden on the PIA, which was already in a financial mess. “The PIA Pilots Association has suggested acquisition of aircraft on ‘damp lease’ – partly wet, partly dry,” he said.

PIA spokesman Mashhood Tajwar says acquisition of aircraft on wet lease is a short-term solution. “Dry lease is a permanent solution if the airline is facing shortage of aircraft. We cannot brand our airline if we get aircraft on wet lease… (with) its all foreign outlook. We cannot have foreign pilots for a long time. We have the required skill and manpower. What we need is aircraft.”