ISLAMABAD, March 26: PIA chairman Ahmad Saeed on Friday strongly defended the purchase of eight Boeing 777 aircraft and said that the deal was absolutely transparent that best suited the national airline.

Reacting to a report published in Dawn on Thursday, he said that PIA officials were "not" called at the Central Development Working Party (CWDP) meeting held on March 22 to explain the deal struck with the Boeing company.

"No verbal or written invitation was given to us to attend the CWDP meeting of the Planning Commission", he said, regretting that those who did not have the expertise had raised objections over PIA's decision to go for the Boeing 777 aircraft.

The PIA chairman told Dawn that Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) had given an anticipatory approval to PIA to purchase eight Boeing aircraft which were found to be better than any other aircraft, including that of A-340 Airbus by the selection committee headed by Air Marshal Arshad Salim. Then, he said, the Board of Directors of the PIAC had unanimously approved the Boeing deal for being the best in all respects.

"If you have the fear of NAB then who would think for a minute to have any dubious deal," he asked light-heartedly. "Therefore this is not fair to say on the part of the Planning Commission that no proper feasibility study was conducted or no bids were invited", Mr Saeed said, adding that the top level people in the government had made sure that the Boeing deal was free of any doubt.

The committee members, he said, had visited the headquarters of Airbus in Toulouse (France) and Seattle in the United States before finalizing the deal. Detailed negotiations were conducted with both the companies and the Boeing 777 aircraft was eventually found to be the best choice as the deal carried a number of other benefits as well, he asserted.

The PIA chief pointed out that after 9/11, it had become easy to purchase passenger aircraft relatively on lower prices. "That is why we decided not to go for old aircraft and a deal was made to have new aircraft," he said. He did not agree with the Planning Commission that PIA should have opted for old aircraft, especially when the prices in the international market had gone very low.

A number of presentations were given to all the people concerned before going for Boeing 777 option. He said that keeping in view the fuel consumption and the number of seats, Boeing outmanoeuvred other aircraft, including the Airbus.

The US Exim Bank, he pointed out, offered 85 per cent of loan at 4.22 mark-up, compared with 6.33 per cent being extended by other international banks, to help sign a deal with a Boeing company. Responding to a question, Mr Saeed denied that there was any pressure by the US government to sign a deal with Boeing company.

"Had there been any pressure, it would have been from the president or the finance minister," he said, adding that all the prescribed criteria was fulfilled before closing the deal for eight Boeing 777 aircraft.

The rack price of each Boeing 777 aircraft, he said, was $190 million but, "we got it at a price of $120 million which also included the customs duty," he said.

He conceded that a Boeing aircraft was $25 million costlier than Airbus but then hastened to add: "The benefits which I have mentioned to you are much more than any other aircraft, including the Airbus".

"It has been written in the agreement that if any element of kickback, commission or another discrepancy is found even after 50 years of buying the aircraft, penalty will be imposed on the Boeing company", the PIA chairman said.