KARACHI: About 187 flights of the Pakistan International Airlines were cancelled and over 765 delayed last month, said the PIA’s September 2012 Punctuality Report.

The national flag carrier could not even meet its own punctuality target of 85.6 per cent as it achieved only 82 per cent punctuality rate in September.

The PIA had scheduled 3,661 flights, but 5.1 per cent of them were cancelled. Only 3,474 flights were operated with a regularity of 94.9 per cent. Nearly 765 departures were delayed as only 2,709 flights could be operated on time.

According to the report, the single largest factor delaying the flights was that aircraft were not in perfect condition and attracted unexpected intervention by the engineering department.

The PIA achieved its target in August 2012 when only 514 flights were delayed and its punctuality rate was 86.9 per cent. The punctuality rate went down to 68.5 per cent in December last year when 1,497 flights could not depart on time.

In September last year, over 1,312 flights got delayed with a 70 per cent punctuality rate. Over 1,061 delays were caused due interventions by the engineering department.

Several attempts were made to contact PIA spokesperson Sultan Hassan to get the airline’s version on the subject, but to no avail.