KARACHI, Nov 2: The Pakistan International Airlines is likely to incur massive revenue losses as it has temporarily suspended Boeing 747 operations to Europe and switched to smaller Airbus A310 and Boeing 777s in the aftermath of concerns expressed by European aviation authorities.

Sources said that over 80 flight schedules were disrupted and 38 cancellations or changes in itinerary, involving Boeing 747, Boeing 777, Boeing 737 and Airbus A310, were made as a result of issues raised by the European Commission following inspections.

“The flights affected included PK-701, PK-702, PK-785, PK-786, PK-709, PK-710, PK-723, PK-724, PK-773, PK-774, PK-364, PK-787, PK-788, PK-383, PK-327,” a source in the flight operation said.

He said the change from Boeing 747 aircraft to smaller A310 and Boeing 777 would lead to a drastic reduction of capacity and the airline had not given any alternatives to passengers.

“This is bound to cause a great deal of inconvenience to people with the peak season approaching in November and December,” he added.

The sources said the change of aircraft types would make it necessary for the national carrier to reduce its capacity by over 3,600 seats out of the UK alone in total 7,200 return seats per week.

For example, they said, the Heathrow-bound flight PK-758 from Lahore was changed from B747 aircraft, which has total capacity of 433 seats, to 190-seat Airbus A-310.

The sources said the airline had on certain flights changed to Boeing 777, which had the capacity of 315 seats.

However, a spokesman for the PIA said the measures being taken in rescheduling UK operations had not affected schedule on PIA’s Canada and European routes where capacity and frequencies remained the same.

He said that on the Heathrow route, as against 10 flights, the airline would continue to offer nine flights between Pakistan and London which are sufficient to cater to market needs between November and up to mid-December.

Similarly, the spokesman added, capacity to Manchester has been augmented through re-routing of PK-Toronto flights via Manchester, minimising impact of capacity reduction on this route.

The sources said the EU had restricted only two particular aircraft from operation to Europe. They said that a PIA Boeing 747 (registration number AP-BFV) was declared as a potential fire hazard for loose wire harness of IFE (inflight entertainment equipment) at Heathrow airport.

The sources said that during the inspection of the PIA Boeing 747, two over-wing emergency escape exit lights were not found serviceable.

They said the other aircraft, an A310 with registration number AP-BEB, was barred from EU after inspection at Birmingham, where inspectors found tail horizontal stabliiser repair had come off and could have restricted flight controls as per their assessment.

The sources recalled that early this year a PIA A310 flight was impounded at Oslo, when its civil aviation medical inspectors caught the PIA co-pilot in a highly intoxicated state just prior to departure. The man was arrested and sentenced to six-month imprisonment.

A PIA insider said the incident gave PIA a bad press and led to subsequent inspections of its aircraft, pinpointing to technical defects and documentation lapses. “The national carrier, however, did not fare well during the course of various random inspections carried out at various airports in Europe, where PIA operates Boeing 777s, Boeing 747s and A310s,” he said.

The sources said that initially the inspection resulted in minor reprimand for defects, which were not of a primary nature (like engines, flight controls, etc) but were either essential for emergency or passenger convenience.

They said that PIA’s brand-new fleet of Boeing 777s had also had more than their share of technical defects.

They recalled that a Boeing 777, bearing registration number AP-BGL (flight No. PK-761) was impounded by the National Aviation Authority of Germany at Frankfurt in August with snags.

According to the Ramp Inspection Report of the German aviation authorities, one latch of one of the engines was loose and EFB System Right Hand was found unserviceable. Besides, the operating permit issued by German authorities was not available on board, while the insurance certificate was not complete.

The sources said the chief engineer, Line Maintenance, had to seek a waiver from the Civil Aviation Authority for the unserviceable EFB System and he later faxed it to Frankfurt for the release of the aircraft from German authorities, who, however, refused to accept the waiver and did not release the aircraft.

They said the German civil aviation authorities impounded the aircraft for five hours and the snag was rectified by the Germans.

The sources said a PIA Boeing 777 (PK-721) landed at Manchester in September 2006 with a panel broken and the aircraft was grounded at Manchester for 24 hours.

Similarly, they added, a Boeing 777 flight was delayed at Manchester for fuel leak from one of the engines.

A source in the PIA’s engineering department said the airline’s fleet of Boeing 737 was also facing serious problems. “All these defects were either due to inadequate supply of technical spares or incompetence of PIA engineering,” he added.

The source said that the Corporate Safety Department, an in-house safety audit division of PIA, failed to perform its primary role of pointing out these lapses, as did the CAA Pakistan,” they added.

The sources also recalled that the Boeing Engineering & Maintenance Division undertook a study of PIA’s Technical Procurement and Engineering practices on the request of the airline in Feb 2006 and the report was highly critical of changes made in the procurement policy.