ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: Some members of the Senate Defence Committee have called upon PIA to take parliament into confidence before approving sale of six airworthy Airbus A300B4 and two Boeing 747-200 aircraft worth approximately $70 million.

The committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday. "PIA is bypassing parliament while taking important decisions," said Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, a member of the committee.

Ms Zuberi said that in addition to raising the issue of sale of Airbus and Boeing aircraft at the committee meeting, she would present her findings on controversial decisions taken by the national flag carrier.

She said the PIA had also taken approval of the government about what she said a controversial purchase of Boeing 777 aircraft. Senator Farhatullah Babar said the PIA should defer the decision to sell the aircraft before the matter was debated in the National Assembly and Senate and relevant parliamentary committees.

"It should be debated why PIA is selling the aircraft in view of the previous controversial deals," he said. Senator Babar said the defence committee had asked for relevant papers of the controversial deals struck by PIA during the past few years and despite ministerial assurances on the floor of Senate, they were not made available to parliament for scrutiny.

Senator Enver Baig said any decision about the sale of national assets should be transparent and they should not become another Boeing 777 deal about which allegations were under probe.

A senior PIA official said the board of directors had approved the decision to sell six Airbus A300B4 and two Boeing 747-200 aircraft. Explaining the reasons for selling the aircraft, another official said the maintenance cost was getting expensive by the day.

The PIA had recently invited offers for the sale of six Airbus A300B4 and two Boeing 747-200. It said the aircraft complied with international standards (JAR 145 compliant) and had 'valid Certificate of Airworthiness' available from March 2005.