09 February 2005	Wednesday	29 Zilhaj 1425

ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: Pakistan International Airlines said on Monday it would sell A-300B4 fleet in March as scheduled, and had no intention to defer the sale.

Commenting on Dawn's Feb 3 report headlined 'PIA defers decision to sell aircraft, the airline said in a press release that the decision to sell the aircraft had been taken after careful consideration.

PIA said that the maintenance cost of the A-300B4 fleet was high as it had an average life of 24 years, and not 18 as mentioned in the report.

The press release said: "In order to straighten the records one may also point out that the cost of the GPS system is to the tune of two million dollars for the fleet and certainly not per aircraft as stated in your report."

"Another major inaccuracy that needs to be pointed out is that the lease rental for the six A-310 aircraft is US$15 million and not US$41.4 million per annum. Likewise, the lease rental of passenger aircraft acquired from MNG was less than US$2 million. It may also be mentioned that the cargo capacity of both the A- 300B4 and A-310 is comparable.

Original Story: PIA defers decision to sell aircraft