April 27, 2002	Saturday	Safar 13, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, April 26: The federal government has approved PIA’s plan to purchase seven new aircraft to help modernise its fleet.

According to official sources, the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) which met here on Thursday allowed the authorities of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to buy four 777 Boeing and three A-340 Airbus.

The meeting also decided that government would furnish its guarantees for the return of loans being sought for the purchase of the new planes.

The sources said that US Import and Export (EXIM) Bank had shown willingness to provide 60 per cent financing to help purchase four Boeing aircraft. The manufacturers of A-340 Airbus have offered to make available 75 per cent financing to buy their aircraft.

The ECC also okayed the PIA’s new “fleet financing plan” and said that authorities of the national airline should themselves negotiate various financing details with the Boeing and Airbus companies.

The sources said that although PIA had earned Rs1.24 billion profit during the first two quarters of the current financial year, it was still facing financial difficulties. With a view to reducing losses, the PIA has restructured its international network and redeployed capacity to more profitable markets. In this regard some new opportunities have been availed on Umra and Eid seasons.

The sources said the ECC meeting directed the PIA officials to improve the performance of the organisation by ensuring strict merit for inductions and foreign postings. There had been complaints specially about the foreign postings. The PIA officials said that whatever better performance had been achieved during the last few months, it was due to adhering to rules and regulations and that “sifarish” was being discouraged at every level in the organisation.

During July-March 2000-01, the PIA achieved 9,739 million Revenue Passengers Kilometres (RPKs), against 8,831 million PRKs generated in the corresponding period last year, which is higher by 10.3 per cent. A total of 4.18 million passengers were carried as compared to 3.95 million passengers in the preceding period. PIA’s aircraft fleet as on March 31, 2001, consisted of 46