RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Inter­natio­nal Airlines has made a Boeing 777 aircraft, which had been grounded for over one and a half years, operational to be used for Haj flights and on all other routes, it emerged on Friday.

With the latest addition, the number of Boeing 777 planes in the PIA fleet has risen to 12, while the airline also expects to make two more aircraft — an ATR and an Airbus A-320 — operational by the end of June.

Both planes have been lying out of service for the past one year. Making the two aircraft operational, too, will help the PIA increase its revenue while facilitating maximum number of passengers.

Two more aircraft being repaired to make them operational by end of June

PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik had soon after assuming his charge instructed the engineering team to make the aircraft operational at the earliest so that it could generate revenue.

PIA spokesman Mashhood Tajwar told Dawn that the CEO congratulated the engineering team on making the aircraft airworthy and their continuing efforts to make two more aircraft serviceable in near future. The CEO was quoted as saying that this showed the commitment and dedication that was required to revive the PIA. For achieving this feat, which was considered by some as nearly impossible, efforts of the PIA engineering and other departments were appreciated.

The Boeing 777 aircraft had been grounded for lack of spares and financial constraint for more than 18 months.

The PIA spokesman said that with the addition of the plane, the number of Boeing 777 in the fleet had increased to 12. This would be a great help for the airline to smoothly run the forthcoming Haj operations, he added.

The Boeing 777 plane, bearing registration BHV, had been considered abandoned before the engineering and maintenance team had started working on it and finally overhauled it.

The PIA spokesman said the plane would be used on all routes, including Europe and the Middle East.

“Had this aircraft been not made operational, the PIA would have been facing lot of problems, especially in upcoming peak season, as it had to cancel some Europe route flights,” the spokesman said, adding that the two more aircraft, which had been grounded for the past one year, would be made operational by the end of June.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2019