Pakistan International Airlines becomes only airline in Pakistan to operate 737-800

Pakistan International Airlines, via its official Facebook account, stated (19-Jan-2017) two Boeing 737-800 aircraft obtained by PIA on wet lease from a Turkish operator during the week of 16-Jan-2017 are being put into operation from 19-Jan-2017. No other airline in Pakistan is currently using this aircraft, the carrier noted. The aircraft have been obtained for a period of three months and two more similar aircraft are expected to join PIA's fleet in the coming weeks. The decision to acquire these aircraft was taken in order to meet the immediate shortage of aircraft, which was created due to the grounding of four aged A310 aircraft at the end of 2016. The narrowbody aircraft have a capacity of carrying 189 passengers in all-economy configuration. The two aircraft would operate six services on 19-Jan-2017 which include PK-316 (Karachi-Lahore), PK-317 (Lahore-Karachi), PK-306 (Karachi-Lahore), PK-307 (Lahore-Karachi), PK-380 (Karachi-Multan-Islamabad) and PK-319 (Islamabad-Karachi).