PIA plane grounded for 1.5 years declared fit to fly following overhaul
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The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced on Thursday that a Boeing 777 airplane, which had been out-of-service for more than a year and a half, has been made operational.
According to the national airline's spokesperson Mashhood Tajwar, the hopes that the aircraft could be made serviceable again were fading.
However, in a "historic feat", the repaired plane completed its test flight, following which it was formally added to the airline's schedule, the spokesperson added.
PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik congratulated all the members of the national airline "on this major success".
"Engineering, supply chain system, finance, flight operation and all other departments that helped in getting this plane back into the schedule deserve acclaim," the chief executive officer said.
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Comments (72) Closed
May 30, 2019 11:21pm
This means, for more than 18 months, somebody was trying to declare this plane serviceable and for auction as junk, definitely for ulterior motives. Already we know a case of another plane junked in Germany.
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May 30, 2019 11:26pm
PIA is a loss-making airlines.
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May 30, 2019 11:32pm
Good news!!
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May 30, 2019 11:39pm
Its overhaul, dear sir. Humans can make mistakes.
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May 30, 2019 11:39pm
Why did it take so long to repair the plane? Lack of funds or parts?
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May 30, 2019 11:43pm
Why is this national news ? Or have we run out of any positive news in Naya Pakistan that news outlets have to run with this ?
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May 30, 2019 11:43pm
@Rashid Khan the Afghan, When an aircraft is vandalized for parts---& in this case where there was no list for parts taken out---it takes longer than normal to overhaul it---because you have to check every nook and cranny to see what is missing---.
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May 30, 2019 11:47pm
Who passed the plane on safety. Is it to to official international standard? Thanks but no thanks, I'd rather walk!
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May 30, 2019 11:49pm
It's about people life. The plane was declared unfit previously and now it is coming back to Fleet. Who is responsible if something unexpected happen?
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May 30, 2019 11:51pm
The first steps are the most challenging ones, once PIA is on its feet, it can regain its glorious past and be an example for other institutions.
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May 30, 2019 11:52pm
Good luck with this aircraft...
Gordon D. Walker
Canada
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May 30, 2019 11:54pm
Let's hope it remains a historic feat. Not a death ship in the future
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May 30, 2019 11:55pm
@MeinHuPakistani, nothing good in it.these old plans are involved more in crashes.sad that we are being happy for it.
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May 31, 2019 12:01am
good job on doing your job PIA!
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May 31, 2019 12:10am
One more plane added to take freeloaders (employees and their families) on joyriding trips to Europe and Middle East .
Shut down this perennial loss making entity .
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May 31, 2019 12:12am
Is this a news ?
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May 31, 2019 12:13am
Gr8 work by PIA
Keep it up
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May 31, 2019 12:19am
Otherwise khaqan abaasi would have purchased it and used for his own airline.
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May 31, 2019 12:33am
i'd avoid this aircraft!
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May 31, 2019 12:35am
What is overall? Are those the garments worn by the airplane techs?
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May 31, 2019 12:40am
18 months and they are congratulating one another. Anywhere else head would roll for the incompetence. Do they know how much money is lost for every hour the aircraft is on the ground. This is shameful
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May 31, 2019 12:40am
The title of this article contains the word "Overall". That does not make grammatical sense. Did the writer mean "overhaul"? If that is the case then your newspaper, it's writers, the editors, etc. have absolutely no knowledge of the English language and or how to spell words. And you call this a news outlet??? Shameful! Have you guys not heard of spell check??? Try it or go back to school and learn from an elementary level !!! You have my email address above, let's see if I get a response from your editorial section! I doubt it!!!
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May 31, 2019 12:45am
@M. Emad,
Do you ever say something sensible?
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May 31, 2019 12:48am
Historic moment ??
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May 31, 2019 12:59am
I still doubt its performance
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May 31, 2019 12:59am
Privitaze PIA. Too many employees, almost 600 per plane where as all other airline have only 150 employees per plane.
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May 31, 2019 01:08am
Really? Repairing a grounded plane is historical feat? This is a Boeing 777 which is one of the most commonly used aircrafts and not an exclusively built space shuttle. No wonder PIA is a mess.
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May 31, 2019 01:21am
It was made a loss making venture to help Air Blue and also launch Indus.
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May 31, 2019 01:32am
@Rashid Khan the Afghan, lack of will perhaps .
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May 31, 2019 01:43am
@M. Emad, no it’s not it turned a profit
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May 31, 2019 01:44am
@Rashid Khan the Afghan, too many Sindhi mechanics
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May 31, 2019 01:45am
can it fly to other countries which have placed bans on planes they deem dangerous? Or only Pakistanis will be flying in it in Pakistan
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May 31, 2019 01:52am
@Fastrack, that is why test flights are done after overhaul. Kudos to them for making it useful instead of salvaging it
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May 31, 2019 01:56am
The plane in the picture is a Boeing 747 , the plane you are talking about is a Boeing 777
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May 31, 2019 02:27am
@M. Emad, "PIA is a loss-making airlines."
Thank you for your observation. Many airlines are loss-making. That is the nature of the aviation business. Margins are small and it's easy to make a loss. However due to the millions of Pakistani diaspora PIA can become a profit making airline very easily once the political baggage is shed off.
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May 31, 2019 03:27am
This is kind of self congratulatory statement. Somebody should ask what they were doing for 1.5 years and some people must be fired for such inordinate delay for which they are claiming achievement.
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May 31, 2019 03:30am
@M. Emad, No, it made a profit for the first time ever last month. Great work done by Air Marshall and Executive bought in from USA to run PIA. Now restructure and expand make PIA something to be proud of.
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May 31, 2019 03:33am
Now will passengers have the confidence to fly on it?
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May 31, 2019 03:45am
@Rashid Khan the Afghan, Lack of will.
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May 31, 2019 03:48am
This is a big achievement
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May 31, 2019 03:51am
Good Job AM Arshad, keep pushing success will be at your feet soon. IA.
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May 31, 2019 04:00am
@Fastrack, the crashed IAF jets are good examples of mistakes.
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May 31, 2019 04:17am
All planes need scheduled maintenance to be safe. The real question is why it wasn't maintained before?
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May 31, 2019 04:25am
Well done.
Make your own commercial airplanes.
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May 31, 2019 04:29am
@M. Emad, not anymore. The new CEO has turned it around. PIA has broken-even in terms of administrative costs.
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May 31, 2019 04:40am
Good news Sir ,may be it's parts were stolen or damaged but have a chance to repeat it .
Hope well for tomorrow. G.A Pakistan.
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May 31, 2019 04:56am
Who will take credibility of this plane that was grounded for 18 months, even cars that are not in use for 18 months need several upgrades. This is how they play with common pakisthani's life, and that's why i stopped flying with pia since last 10 years.
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May 31, 2019 05:01am
Hope it is safe to fly.
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May 31, 2019 05:09am
never flying in that plane!
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May 31, 2019 05:11am
Well done, AM and the entire team.
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May 31, 2019 05:29am
Buck up new CEO PIA please keep it up and make PIA stand on it's own feet,wish you good luck
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May 31, 2019 05:39am
The photograph is NOT that of a 777, but of a 747. I hope PIA has not been repairing the wrong aircraft!
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May 31, 2019 05:45am
Why it was grounded, needed to verify. Otherwise bringing back it into the fleet to just show performance could result in the loss of human lives. PIA should invite international engineering authority to test the plane otherwise human could make mistakes.
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May 31, 2019 06:01am
First of all why it was down for so long? With out answer to this question you can not pat in your back.
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May 31, 2019 06:06am
I would stay away from flying this plane
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May 31, 2019 06:32am
@M. Emad, Will soon turn into a profit making enterprise!
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May 31, 2019 06:32am
Where will this plane fly - what’s the model number?... so I can avoid like the plague
Accident waiting to happen I say...
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May 31, 2019 06:46am
You broke something yourself by not taking proper care, wasted time doing nothing and then fixed it. And now expect a medal apart from your generous salary packages paid for by tax filers? Who is accountable for the billions of rupees loss caused by idling it for such a long period?
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May 31, 2019 07:09am
Good job. Keep it up.
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May 31, 2019 07:59am
This is a news worth reporting? Shows the sad state of affairs.
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May 31, 2019 07:59am
What is so great in making one flight operational after 1.5 years of repairing work ?
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May 31, 2019 08:01am
Good work
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May 31, 2019 09:54am
if we put our act together we can be top in the world in every field. Sad to see how Govt Run organization staff is so useless make big losses
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May 31, 2019 11:05am
When there is a will there is a way. Keep it up PIA. Hope safety standards have not been compromised.
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May 31, 2019 11:18am
@Rashid, it is to international standards, a test flight is the last step.
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May 31, 2019 11:19am
@Fastrack, guess what, all airplanes are overhauled regularly. Quit flying.
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May 31, 2019 11:19am
@Humble , one step at a time, sir.
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May 31, 2019 11:23am
@Roopesh, you want to talk about crashing Tejas jets instead. Okay, go ahead.
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May 31, 2019 12:46pm
If the CEO of any organisation is honesy hardworking and petriotic Pakistani the organisation will definitely grow congratulation to all PIA employees and Managmeny
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May 31, 2019 01:12pm
@Fastrack, The aircraft was also designed and made by humans.
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May 31, 2019 07:22pm
Generally National carriers bring revenue to the country s economy.PIA is the only airline of its kind in the whole world who is taking the countrys revenues instead and every new govt come in power are reluctant to do anything about it.Its high time to do something or will carry asking others to bail out.
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May 31, 2019 08:58pm
@Riaz, nawaz sharif dacco is in jail. That's good nws
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