Pakistan airline mulls Boeing 777X and Airbus A350 jetliners order

Pakistan International Airlines is planning to upgrade its fleet of ageing aircraft and is considering buying larger Boeing and Airbus jetliners as well as A330s.

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane taxies before take-off from Karachi International Airport in Karachi. The company is evaluating its need for new wide-body aircraft. Asif Hassan / AFP

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is evaluating an order for wide-body Airbus and Boeing jets as it looks to upgrade its ageing fleet, an executive for the state-owned airline said on Tuesday.

“Boeing 777X would be a good option,” the airline’s executive director of human resources and works, Raheel Ahmed, said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Dubai.

The airline is also looking at the Airbus A330 and A350 models, he added.

PIA would consider purchasing the aircraft directly from the manufacturer and financing the order through a sale and leaseback arrangement. It would also consider a direct leasing agreement, known as a dry lease.

A sale and leaseback is when the airline sells the jet to a lessor who then leases it back.

Ahmed did not say when PIA would make the order or how many jets it could buy.

PIA has a fleet of 38 narrow-body and wide-body Airbus and Boeing jets, Mr Ahmed said, with three A310s to be retired on December 31.

Mr Ahmed also said PIA would cut its 18,000 workforce by between 3,000 and 3,500 employees by the end of 2017 as the Pakistan government looks to turn around the loss-making airline and sell-off a 49 per cent stake.

As part of the turnaround, the airline will spin-off four “special business units” from January 2017, starting with its catering business and later its flight training, engineering and courier businesses.

The units are planned to operate independently of PIA with their own general managers and marketing teams, Mr Ahmed said, adding PIA would later look to sell a stake in the units if they are profitable.

* Reuters

Follow The National's Business section on Twitter