LAHORE: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) chairman Muhammad Ali Gardezi said that the airline would be operating 11 ATRs, 13 Airbus A320s, 9 Boeing 777s and 5 Airbus A310 aircrafts in 2015. He said the A310s would be replaced with state-of-the-art Airbus A330 aircraft if circumstances permitted. The national flag-carrier would induct five aircrafts in its fleet soon.
Speaking to journalists at the airline’s office, Gardezi said PIA was expected to reduce losses by 44 per cent after inducting the ATR 72-500s. Gardezi said the aircraft would arrive in December. He said this would bring the total number of ATRs in the fleet to 11. They can seat 62-66 each passengers and will be operated on domestic routes.
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Gardezi said the management was also planning to induct 10 Airbus A320 aircraft on a six-year dry lease. He said these would join the fleet in 2015.
Gardezi said they had managed to reduce losses by Rs10 billion. Gardezi said the airline had incurred a loss of Rs8 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year.
He said this year the flag-carrier had made an operating profit of Rs338 million during the same time period.
Gardezi said the management had taken several initiatives to cut costs. He said the airline had stopped flying to Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Gardezi said PIA had been incurring losses of Rs461 million on these routes. He said the airline had abolished 200 foreign posts. Gardezi said the flag-carrier would continue reducing jobs at foreign destinations with low traffic.
Gardezi said PIA had successfully concluded its pre-Hajj operation. He said the airline’s post-Hajj operation was now underway. He said the flag-carrier had opened an aeronautical engineering centre of international standard in Lahore.
Gardezi said a similar facility would be opened in November in Rawalpindi. He said similar facilities would also be opened in Peshawar and Quetta.
