Three foreign planes 'grounded' after incidents at Karachi airport

Karachi airport is currently hosting three grounded foreign aircraft following a series of separate incidents, ARY News reported on Monday, citing sources within aviation authority.

According to sources, one of the incidents involved an international courier company’s cargo plane, which was struck by a loader truck on the tarmac at the Karachi airport.

The collision caused damage to the aircraft, particularly breaking the left-wing lights and impacting three structural points.

The aircraft has not yet undergone repairs, and a specialized technical team from abroad is expected to arrive in Karachi soon to commence restoration work.

In a separate case, a Turkish Airlines aircraft remains parked in the airport’s apron area. It was grounded after a bird strike damaged one of its engines.

A Saudia Airlines plane is also still stationed at Karachi Airport after it made an emergency landing due to an engine fire warning.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) engineering team has begun preliminary work to rectify the technical fault.

Earlier in January, last year, it was reported that nine planes of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) were grounded due to “shortage of spare parts”.

Sources privy to the development said that out of 31 planes in the fleet, nine aircraft have been grounded due to the non-availability of spare parts. The grounded aircraft includes five Airbus-320, three Boeing-777 and one ATR craft.

Uncertainty persisted about the future of the national airline as it is mostly relying on the State Bank of Pakistan, sources claimed, adding that leasing companies have termed Pakistan’s CCC rating against business policies.