Islamabad: PIA is on the verge of restructuring, has announced that it will acquire 10 narrow-body aircraft on ‘dry lease’ between April and July this year.
The lease period will be eight years and the aircraft should have been manufactured in 2010 or later, which means the leased aircraft will be three to four years old.
The aircrafts acquired on the ‘dry lease’ without insurance, crew, ground staff, supporting equipment and maintenance facilities.
With the government deciding to sell 26 per cent shares of PIA to a strategic buyer by the end of this year, the restructuring process has been termed “Revival of PIA”.
According to sources, the narrow-body aircraft should have a minimum of 175 seats and it must be delivered not later than July 30.
The bidders may submit bids for any number of aircraft, and award of contracts will be based on the lowest responsive evaluated bid. The bids will be opened at the PIA head office in Karachi on March 7, and successful bidder within seven days of the award will be executed of the receipt of duly completed form of contract.
PIA has already issued tenders for acquiring eight narrow-body aircraft on ‘wet lease’ (arrangement for provision of aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance). Two of the aircraft will join fleet of the national carrier between March 15 and May 31, four between June 1 and July 31, and two between August 1 and October 31.
According to the terms and conditions, each of the aircraft having 140-plus seats should have been manufactured in 2000 or later, and minimum guaranteed block hours per aircraft per month will be 275 hours.
The PIA will open technical and financial proposals of bidders on Feb 14 at the PIA headquarters.
