October 12, 2006	Thursday	Ramazan 18, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Pakistan International Airlines has temporarily grounded its newly acquired brand new ATR due to component failure.

The component was to be acquired from abroad. The aircraft would be able to fly again once PIA replaced the component, said a statement issued here on Wednesday. The statement provided no other information regarding the components cost, its type and how long the plane would remain grounded.

PIA has placed orders for seven brand new ATRs. The first was delivered earlier this year. The other aircraft would arrive one each in November, December, and January and the rest in May.

The 48-seater ATR would replace PIA’s aging F-27s aircraft fleet to meet its domestic schedule requirements. The PIA plan envisaged grounding one F-27 for every new ATR that was delivered to PIA and replacing the entire Fodder27 fleet eventually with the newly acquired ATRs.

The grounding of the complete F-27 fleet, resulted in PIA operating its Boeing 737 aircraft, on routes where it was capable of landing, to subsidise the operation of domestic flight schedule.

Similarly, the C-130s of the Pakistan Air Force were being used to serve the Northern Areas.