PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) has lost PKR21.8 billion Pakistani rupees (USD78.2 million) due to the prolonged maintenance of some of its aircraft over more than ten years, an Auditor General's report said.

The audit, widely reported in the Pakistani media but not available online, said the majority state-owned carrier was aware of the inefficiencies in its maintenance process as early as 2012. Despite this, consecutive management teams took no steps to reduce ground time to a minimum. Some aircraft were parked "substantially longer" than the periods necessary in order to conduct the required checks.

PIA blamed the delays on its ongoing financial crisis, which made it impossible to pay for maintenance on time. However, it did not provide any detailed explanations to the Auditor General.

PIA did not respond to ch-aviation's request for further comment.

The ch-aviation fleets module shows the Pakistani flag carrier operates seventeen A320-200s (six grounded), three ATR42-500s (two grounded), six B777-200ERs (three grounded), two B777-200(LR)s (one grounded), and four B777-300(ER)s (two grounded).

The government is hoping to privatise PIA by year-end.