At least six planes of national airline have been grounded for one reason or another, causing problems for it to manage domestic and international operations with a depleted fleet. It is also resulting in flight delays.

According to a source, six PIA planes have been grounded for ‘technical’ faults and some of them can be made operational if the required spare parts are provided by the management.

“The management has not only shown its inefficiency in bringing the aircrafts to service but it also lags behind in scheduling and planning. The airline is not using two new Boeing-777 from its fleet as well because the management ‘wants’ to justify the purchase of a new fleet,” he said.

The PIA currently operational has in its fleet Airbus (12), Boeing 737 (5), Boeing 747 (4), Boeing 777 (9), and ATR (7).

A Boeing-747 aircraft which was grounded on May 14 and it was scheduled to be ready for flying after repair of its engine on June 19. An Airbus was grounded on July 18 and was supposed to be fit by Aug 21, another Airbus was grounded on July 23 and had to be back in operational fleet on July 25 after routine maintenance but it could not.

Another Airbus without both engines was grounded on March 30 is still waiting for spare parts. A Boeing-737 was grounded on July 7 for structural integrity check and has to be fit by Aug 10 while an ATR which was grounded in May for broken landing gear is waiting for its replacement.

A PIA Karachi spokesman said only two to three planes had been grounded for technical reasons and they would be ready to fly after ‘routine’ check up.

Sixty three per cent flights from Lahore to Islamabad were delayed in May and 48 per cent in June while 55 per cent flights lagged behind scheduled timing in first week of July.

Likewise from Islamabad to Lahore 70 per cent flights were delayed in May, 53 per cent in June while 65 per cent flights could not reach their destination on stipulated timing.

According to the report submitted to LHC by PIA, four planes had to travel over six sectors and in case a plane was delayed for five minutes at one station it would end up with a delay of half an hour while landing at Lahore airport.