KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Saturday excluded ATR-72 airplanes from its fleet which were hired on an expensive lease. Sources disclosed that the planes were removed from the PIA fleet due to their non-profitable operation as the planes were hired on an expensive lease in 2015 by the then people at helm of administration of the Pakistan International Airlines. Though the lease agreement was the biggest hurdle in returning the aircraft but in response to directives of the CEO Arshad Malik, the administration by taking benefit of a clause of the agreement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic managed to revoke the contract. In this context, the first aircraft APB departed for Johannesburg from Karachi on Saturday’s morning. Malik said the decision was hard but was inevitable, adding that reforms are being introduced in the PIA and sooner new planes would be added to the fleet of the national flag carrier. It is to mention here that the PIA is currently operating ATR-42 from various airports of the country. TLTP
