PIA plane stopped at Kuala Lumpur airport

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) Boeing 777 has been stopped from taking off at the Kuala Lumpur airport for failing to pay arrears of lease following orders from a court in Malaysia, on Friday.

The Boeing plane of BMH registration has been stopped at Kuala Lumpur airport over the nonpayment of $14million to the lease company.

A spokesman for the PIA, however, has said that there are 167 passengers in the plane who are being looked after well and that they will fly to Pakistan on board a foreign airline on Friday night.

Terming the court orders ‘unjustified’, he said that the orders had been given in connection with a case sub judice in a UK court. “This is an intolerable situation, and the PIA management has requested the government of Pakistan to resolve this issue through diplomatic means,” he said.

He said the lease company has been being paid the lease amount regularly and there was a dispute regarding arrears and the issue was in a UK court but the lease company got these orders issued by a local court despite the fact that the case was currently being heard in a court in London.

He said this situation was unacceptable and the PIA has requested the government to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels.

He said they have engaged a Gulf Air flight to bring the passengers to back Pakistan that would depart at 8:00 PM and would land in Islamabad on Saturday morning.