ABU DHABI, May 4: Pakistan International Airlines on Sunday signed a 150-million-dollar loan to help purchase three Boeing 777 aircraft as part of the airline’s fleet replacement and modernization plan.

“Proceeds of the 150 million dollars will be used for pre-delivery payments towards the purchase of three Boeing 777 aircraft by PIA as part of fleet replacement,” said PIA chairman Ahmed Said.

Citi Islamic Investment Bank Bahrain, a member of Citigroup, Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Pakistan’s United Bank acted as joint arrangers for the three-year Islamic loan facility.

“Despite the turmoil in the aviation industry worldwide, this deal constitutes a vote of confidence in PIA, which has turned into a profitable airline,” he said.

PIA will need to spend 1.5 billion dollars to acquire eight new Boeing 777 aircraft, he added.

Under the first phase of the deal, three Boeing 777-200s have been purchased and are scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2004. The financing of the three aircraft is through a 340-million-dollar, 12-year foreign currency loan, backed by a guarantee from Export Import Bank of the United States.—AFP