Islamabad - Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was disposing of some of its obsolete, unserviceable aircraft after a transparent process, spokesman Haneef Rana said Friday.
He said a section of the media unnecessarily maligned PIA for disposing of some of its obsolete aircraft. PIA had tendered to dispose of some of its old aircraft that had completed their operational flying life. These include a Boeing-747, three Boeing-737 and three A-310 aircraft.
He said that a tender notice announcing the disposal was released in national newspapers. The vendors inspected the obsolete aircraft parked at Karachi Airport; followed by sealed bids submission.
A number of vendors responded to the advertisement and were permitted to inspect the aircraft. The entire bidding process was done with complete transparency. All aircraft equipment including engines, instruments and seats etc. were removed from the aircraft by PIA before the inspection process. Even fuel and oil was also removed from these aircraft leaving only a minimal quantity to keep the mechanical parts lubricated.
The PIA spokesman emphasized that none of the aircraft that were tendered were in flying condition. He asserted that all instruments and fittings had been removed from the aircraft. Further, since all the aircraft in PIA inventory were civilian in nature, there was no question of any of them having sophisticated missile tracking equipment since such equipment is only fitted on military aircraft, he added.