By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines received its first Boeing Co. 787-9 Dreamliner on Sunday, a leased jet that is the first of its type to join any Pakistani carrier and the clearest sign yet of the fleet rebuild promised by the airline’s new private owners.
The aircraft, operating as flight PK786, flew from London to Islamabad International Airport, where Chief Executive Officer Aamir Hayat and members of his team greeted it, the airline said in a statement.
“The state-of-the-art Dreamliner, acquired on lease, arrived in Islamabad from London operating as flight PK-786,” a PIA spokesperson said. “This is the first Boeing 787 of its kind to join the fleet of any airline in Pakistan.”
The spokesperson said the jet has an in-flight entertainment system and a “spacious and comfortable cabin.” The addition “is part of a strategy to modernise PIA’s fleet and strengthen its international network,” the spokesperson said, adding that the airline aims to offer passengers “international-standard travel facilities and a more comfortable air travel experience.”
The jet is not owned by PIA. PIA and Norse Atlantic signed an ACMI agreement for two Boeing 787-9s on Oct. 9. Under that wet-lease structure, Norse provides the aircraft, flight crews and maintenance, while PIA handles route sales and ticketing. ACMI stands for aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance. PIA said at the time that the Dreamliners would operate direct long-haul flights between Pakistan and the U.K. and would mark the start of the airline’s expansion.
Filings show the Norse-operated 787-9 replacing a 777-200ER on Islamabad-London Heathrow, with five weekly flights from Oct. 31, and on Lahore-Heathrow, with two weekly flights from Nov. 1. Islamabad-Manchester follows on Nov. 15 with four weekly flights, and Lahore-Manchester on Nov. 18 with one. PIA currently flies to more than 25 international destinations, including London, Dubai, Beijing and Riyadh, according to its website.
According to Boeing, the 787-9 seats 250 to 325 passengers, has a maximum takeoff weight of 259,220 kilograms and can fly up to 15,370 kilometers. PIA’s fleet previously consisted of Boeing 777 wide-bodies, Airbus A320 narrow-bodies and ATR42-500 and ATR72-500 turboprops.
The lease runs alongside a separate effort to buy from Boeing. Pakistan has been pressing the manufacturer to speed delivery of at least five of the 16 787s it plans to acquire. PIA’s new management and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Boeing’s Washington headquarters in July to finalize the deal. In September, the government said it was not buying any aircraft for the former national carrier, after reports that a federal minister was arranging and negotiating sovereign-linked financing for PIA jets. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has also met US EXIM Bank Chair John Jovanovich to discuss financing for planned 787 purchases.
For Norse, the contract fills capacity. The Norwegian carrier had been seeking new customers for part of its 787 fleet because IndiGo’s damp-lease of six Dreamliners ends on Oct. 31, and Bloomberg reported it was in talks with PIA and Biman Bangladesh Airlines. Norse has also been trying to shore up its finances as jet fuel costs soar.
Pakistan sold a 75% stake in PIA at an auction on Dec. 23, when an Arif Habib Corp.-led consortium bid 135 billion rupees, valuing the airline at 180 billion rupees. The carrier had accumulated more than $2.8 billion in losses before the sale. The consortium signed the share purchase agreement on Jan. 29 and was given a 90-day window to buy the government’s remaining 25%, valued at about 45 billion rupees. It exercised that option in late April, lodging a bank guarantee on the final day of the window and taking the airline to 100% private ownership.
The new owners have pledged to restructure operations, expand the fleet and improve customer service. Management plans to more than triple the fleet to 64 aircraft from the current 19 over about eight years. Habib said in July that the airline could be profitable within its first year after privatization and that the fleet could reach 60 aircraft within five years. In April, he put the carrier’s aircraft count at 30, of which 18 were operational.
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