Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson on Wednesday said the national flag carrier added two more aircraft to its operations fleet during the last 24 hours.
The PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan said in a press statement, “Despite the difficult economic conditions of the country, the government is acting for PIA’s progress, which is evident from the fact that the number of aircraft in its operational fleet continues to increase.”
He said that when all the specifics were sorted out, a new Airbus-320 aircraft that had only recently arrived had also been added to the schedule. “Yesterday, the new Airbus 320 took its first commercial flight as PK-309 from Islamabad to Karachi.”
Similar to that, he said, a Boeing 777 that had been grounded for seven months had returned to operation after receiving the necessary maintenance. “This morning, the aircraft completed its maiden flight in several months, flying as PK-300 toward Jeddah.”
The official announced that this was the second Boeing-777 to resume service in recent months, saying that the third one was also nearing its end and will start flying within the coming weeks.
“With this process, a total of 25 aircraft, including 14 Airbuses and 10 Boeing-777 will be part of PIA’s schedule,” he said, adding it would help expand the operational network of the national flag carrier.
As a result of the personal interest of Minister for Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique, he stated that this was the greatest number of active PIA aircraft since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The official said that the aviation sector was close to complete recovery and termed the PIA’s decision to add more planes as “inevitable” in order to accommodate increasing passenger demand.
