The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) got back one of its two planes stranded in Indonesian capital Jakarta as the Airbus A320 aircraft landed at Islamabad International Airport on Tuesday night, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The plane, bearing registration number AP-DLG with two pilots and a crew member took off from Jakarta, and after refuelling from Bangkok the plane landed at Islamabad around 10:45pm on Tuesday night.
Senior officials of PIA management welcomed the plane, which has now again become part of the airline’s fleet. The second plane, an Airbus A320, is expected to reach Pakistan within a couple of weeks.
The PIA had to pay $26 million to the leasing company, whereas it paid $13 million after which one of the aircraft was released.
Earlier, the two passenger aircraft acquired by the PIA on lease and stuck in Indonesian capital Jakarta over payments issue were handed over to the national carrier.
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 $26 million.
PIA officials said the addition of two planes in the airline fleet will improve its operation to the Gulf countries.
Reporter Tayyab Saif