Either there are financial difficulties or the incompetence of the officers, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is yet to be run to its full capacity, reported on Wednesday. It is learnt that only 12 aircraft of the PIA are operational at a time. Due to the proposed privatisation of the PIA, the airlines’ management seems uninterested in making the grounded aircraft operational. It is also learnt that Airbus 320, Boeing and ATR are among the operational aircraft, and the PIA is limited to Riyadh, Madinah, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Toronto and Jeddah routes.

PIA’s domestic flights from Karachi to Lahore, Sialkot, Islamabad, Gilgit and Quetta are also operational. The PIA covers its regional flights with the help of ATR aircraft while several of its aircraft are yet to become operational due to various reasons. The PIA has been losing billions of rupees, for its more than 15 planes are grounded. “The number of the operational aircraft changes based on their availability. All the PIA aircraft are operational,” the PIA spokesperson claimed.

 Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)