PIA to acquire eight B787s

PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Karachi Int'l) is set to acquire eight B787s from Boeing (BOE, Chicago O'Hare) the BBC has reported quoting the carrier's chairman Azam Saigol.

In an interview, Saigol said an agreement had been reached in principle with the US manufacturer with the first deliveries due from June next year onwards.

The announcement comes after Boeing approached the Pakistani government earlier this year with a proposal to convert its five remaining B777-300(ER)s on order to B787s.

As such, Saigol said the B787s would be a better fit for the carrier given their long-range capabilities and reduced seating capacity as compared to the B777-300(ER)s. As such, a viable, nonstop New York JFK service is now a real possibility, he added.

PIA's longhaul fleet currently consists of six B777-200(ER)s, two B777-200(LR)s, three B777-300(ER)s, and one A330-300 (leased from SriLankan Airlines (UL, Colombo Int'l) with two more due in October and December respectively).

ch aviation