Two Airbus passenger aircraft acquired by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on lease and stuck in Indonesian capital Jakarta over payments issue has now be handed over to the national carrier which will automatically be added to its fleet, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Monday.

The PIA acquired both of the Airbus 320 planes from a foreign company on lease two years ago but the deal ran into trouble over payments. After which the company held up both the planes in Jakarta.

The parking fee of the two PIA aircraft, parked at Jakarta Airport since September 2021, has exceeded $15 million. The airport parking fee is reportedly $0.6 million a month and the 26-month parking fee of the aircraft has reached $15.4 million.

The PIA instead of paying both the lease amount and the parking fee decided to purchase both the planes, for which an airline delegation went to Jakarta to finalise the deal.

The PIA team took over the planes after paying $25 million. One of the planes will fly to Pakistan today after route clearance while the other will reach Pakistan after a few days.

PIA officials said the addition of two planes in the airline fleet will improve its operation to the Gulf countries.

Reporter Tayyab Saif