LAHORE, Sept 18: The Pakistan International Airlines starts its Haj operation from Wednesday (today) without acquiring seven planes on lease.

After the approval of the board members, the PIA management had started the process of acquiring five Boeing 737-800s on dry lease for three years and two Boeing 777s on dry lease for five years on ‘most favourable’ terms reportedly before the Haj operation. “The national carrier could not have the process completed because of procedural hiccups. It may face problems either in Haj or in European flights in the absence of much-needed aircraft,” a source in PIA told Dawn on Tuesday.

PIA spokesman Sultan Hasan is however optimistic that the Haj operation will go smoothly. “We have allocated five planes – three jumbos and two Boeing 777s – for the Haj operation. One 777 aircraft is reserved in case of any technical problem in any of the allocated planes,” he said.

When asked how the PIA would manage its flights on European routes with one Jumbo and three 777s in the fleet of remaining 33 planes, Mr Hasan said: “We will manage it easily.” However, he said the process of acquiring seven aircraft was underway as its bidding had been completed.

The source said after the resignation of PIA Chairmain-CEO Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman (retired) on health grounds, the process could be delayed further.

Under the Fleet Replacement Plan 2020, the PIA has envisaged induction of additional two Boeing 777 family aircraft in 2012 and three in 2013.

According to the minutes of the PIA board’s last meeting, the PIA had signed an agreement with a company earlier this year for the purchase rights for five additional Boeing 777 family aircraft. Since new Boeing 777 aircraft will be delivered in 2015, the PIA decided to acquire two planes (Boeing 777s) as per Fleet Replacement Plan on dry lease in September as a bridging arrangement. The aircraft will also be utilized to support Haj 2012 operation from Peshawar and Quetta.

“Earlier, the PIA had floated tender acquisition of 39 narrow-body aircraft as per fleet replacement plan 2020 in Dec 2011. The tenders were opened in January this year and all the bids received were substantially ‘non-responsive’ to the tender. Therefore, the PIA management decided to maintain and utilize its own fleet during 2012. “And to meet the additional capacity requirement of four aircraft and for arranging capacity to replace the Boeing737-300 aircraft under maintenance, it was decided to float tender for up to eight Boeings. One Boeing737-300 has been permanently grounded and this has increased the immediate requirement of five aircraft,” the minutes say.