Four Boeing-747 planes of Pakistan International Airlines will be grounded on October 30 on the demand of civil aviation authorities of Britain and European Union, official sources said on Sunday. The last flight of PIA Boeing-747 plane would take off for Britain on Sunday, they added.
The visit to Britain by Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and other parliamentarians coincides with this last flight of Boeing-747. Sources told NNI that the civil aviation authorities of Britain and European Union had asked PIA last year that as these planes had completed their terms, they could not be used any more.
PIA was told that flights of Boeing-747 would not be allowed to land on the airports in Britain and Europe. So, PIA officials decided that these planes would not be used for Europe and, instead, Boeing-777 would be used.
According to sources, PIA owns only three Boeing-777 planes, which were bought for flights to USA and Canada, and two more 777 planes would be delivered to the national airline by January 2007. The flight on Sunday would carry members of Public Safety Commission, led by Aftab Sherpao, and they would stay there till November 11.
PSC members include parliamentarians Begum Ishrat Ashraf, Nayyar Bukhari, Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, and Sabina Talat, Secretary Interior Kamal Shah and Secretary Public Safety Commission Shoaib Murral. The Commission members will meet British officials, while Ishrat Ashraf will also meet Nawaz Sharif.