Pakistan's national flag carrier has inducted two Boeing 737-800 aircraft obtained on wet lease from a Turkish operator, an airline spokesman announced on Friday.
In a statement, PIA spokesman Danyal Hussein said Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) acquired the passenger planes earlier this week from Turkey's Pegasus Airlines, which will provide two more aircraft on a later date.
The decision to acquire the aircraft had been taken to meet the immediate shortage of planes, which was created after the grounding of four A-310 aircraft at the end of last year, Hussein said.
In December 2016, the A-310 aircraft were grounded following the crash of one such plane in northeastern Pakistan that killed all 48 passengers and crew, including the country's famous singer-turned-preacher, Junaid Jamshed.
The narrow-body 737-800 aircraft have a capacity to carry 189 passengers in an all-economy configuration, the PIA spokesman said, adding the aircraft had been used in six domestic flights on Friday.
The PIA is reportedly facing a severe shortage of aircraft amid numerous complaints of internal mismanagement. -
|