PIA to upgrade fleet with 14 new planes by June

The airline will operate two direct flights in a week from Multan – one from Multan-Jeddah every Friday and the other from Multan-Madina every Saturday. PHOTO: FILE

MULTAN: Bringing good news with the start of the new year, Aviation Secretary Muhammad Ali Gardezi has said the fleet of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be upgraded with the addition of 14 new airplanes before June this year.

He was speaking at a ceremony held to mark the launch of direct flights from Multan to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday. The airline will operate two direct flights in a week from Multan – one from Multan-Jeddah every Friday and the other from Multan-Madina every Saturday.

Four new planes have already arrived while five others, which have been approved by the government, will reach this month. The remaining five will be delivered to PIA by June this year.

Elaborating, Gardezi, who is also the chairman of PIA, said four airplanes had been taken on lease and three more would be acquired on lease of six years.

He pointed out that the major reason behind the losses suffered by the air carrier was the use of airplanes on wrong routes. Before the current management took over, he said, big planes were used on small routes and small planes operated on big routes.

“At present, PIA is earning Rs8 billion a month and our target is Rs15 billion,” he claimed.

Despite losses and high fuel prices, he said, PIA had expanded its network all across the world. “We have started four flights a week to Toronto (Canada) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). More international routes will be introduced.”

Talking about challenges, Gardezi said the biggest challenge the carrier faced was higher fuel prices. “We are paying 56% of our total revenues to cover fuel expenses and only 18% goes for payment of salaries to the employees.”

Discussing the start of flights from Multan to Saudi Arabia, he said a longstanding demand had been met of the residents of Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and adjoining areas. With the completion of a new terminal at the Multan Airport, PIA will operate more international flights from there.

He stressed that the PIA management was making efforts to make the carrier a profitable entity by notching up revenues and reducing costs without compromising on service standards.