Officials from the Pakistani government and PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) will fly to Malaysia to attempt to resolve a long-running dispute with a lessor that has seen two aircraft grounded at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta since September 2021. Local media reported that the trip is a government initiative following PIA's apparent failure to resolve the matter.
The country's current aviation secretary, Shoukat Ali, will lead the delegation and PIA CEO Muhammad Amir Hayat and the airline's director of engineering will accompany him.
The two A320-200s registered as AP-BLY (msn 2926) and AP-BLZ (msn 2944) were ferried to Jakarta for maintenance purposes over two years ago but never returned, and as ch-aviation recently reported are costing cash-strapped PIA USD21,000 a month in parking fees.
AP-BLY and AP-BLZ were leased to PIA in 2015 by Ashe Aircraft Enterprises, a lessor and wholly-owned subsidiary of AirAsia Aviation Group. Reportedly, that entity had agreed to sell PIA the two planes but later backtracked on that decision. ch-aviation has contacted Asia Aviation Capital for comment.
Meanwhile, in related news, PIA has denied claims that its scheduled passenger flights to and from Toronto Pearson risk disruption because it owes USD208,000 to ground handler Swissport and USD250,000 to fuel supplier Menzies Aviation. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that a PIA B777-200LR was prevented from pushing back at Toronto on October 4 because of unpaid bills. A spokesperson for the carrier said the invoices had since been paid and the delay was due to time differences. Menzies confirmed to ch-aviation that all PIA accounts were up to date while Swissport declined to comment on matters concerning its customers.
PIA also says stability has returned to its fuel supply in Pakistan after it paid PKR480,000,000 (USD1.71 million) after state-owned supplier Pakistan State Oil refused to keep the fuel flowing at Lahore International this week, causing the airline to cancel three departures from that airport. PIA's fuel bill for the first six months of 2023 was PKR48.34 billion (USD172.5 million), contributing to its half-yearly loss of PKR27.45 billion (USD98 million).
In mid-September, PIA secured around PKR18 billion (USD64.5 million) in funding from two Pakistani financial institutions after the government refused to provide any further bailouts. The airline used the funding to stabilise its day-to-day operations and bring expenses such as payroll, leases, ground handling, and fuel up to date. PIA, which the government is attempting to partially privatise, is flagged to post a loss of PKR112 billion (USD401 million) this calendar year.
