PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) is set to acquire eight B787-9s from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) the BBC has reported quoting the carrier's chairman Azam Saigol.

In an interview, Saigol said an agreement had been reached in principle with the US manufacturer with the first deliveries due from June next year onwards.

The announcement comes after Boeing approached the Pakistani government earlier this year with a proposal to convert its five remaining B777-300(ER)s on order to B787s.

As such, Saigol said the B787s would be a better fit for the carrier given their long-range capabilities and reduced seating capacity as compared to the B777-300(ER)s. As such, a viable, nonstop New York JFK service is now a real possibility, he added.

PIA's longhaul fleet currently consists of six B777-200(ER)s, two B777-200(LR)s, three B777-300(ER)s, and one A330-300 (leased from SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo International) with two more due in October and December respectively).