The General Authority of Civil Aviation in Saudi Arabia has issued awarning to PIA. In the warning letter, it has been stated that PIA mustensure the punctuality and reliability of its flights, and if performancedoes not improve, flight slots will be reduced. Saudi Aviation has issuedwarning letters to a total of 26 airlines.
PIA has also been warned for delays in flights. According to sources,PIA’s flight operations for Saudi Arabia are severely affected due toaircraft breakdowns, leading to significant delays in flights. It should benoted that PIA’s flight PK 859 from Karachi to Jeddah was delayed byseveral hours, which was supposed to depart at 8 AM.
Due to the absence of aircraft, the flight couldn’t take off, causinginconvenience to passengers. The flight is now expected to depart around4:45 PM. PIA’s flight PK 742 from Jeddah to Karachi also experienced adelay of over five hours. PIA’s flight PK 301 from Islamabad to Karachifaced a delay of over three hours, causing considerable inconvenience topassengers.
Flight delays have become a frequent occurrence due to five of PIA’s Boeing777 aircraft being grounded. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) iscurrently facing difficulties in securing the funds required to make theseaircraft operational again. PIA has a total of 31 aircraft, including asignificant number of Airbus A320 leased from European aircraftmanufacturer “Airbus.”
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Additionally, PIA also has some Boeing aircraft in its fleet. Approximately15 of these aircraft are leased by PIA, meaning that the national carrierhas to make regular payments to leasing companies to use these aircraft forits operations.
Apart from leasing costs, PIA also has to make payments for fuel, spareparts, and airport services to keep the aircraft flight-worthy. Taxes andloan repayments are also part of the financial responsibilities. Out ofPIA’s 31 aircraft, nearly 25 are flight-worthy, while several others havebeen grounded due to delayed payments and maintenance issues.
