PIA Aircraft was sold, not gone missing; says report submitted in SC

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) officials submitted a reply in Supreme Court (SC) in a missing aircraft case.

The plane had completed its operable lifespan, officials said. The CAA gave permission for it to be grounded, stated the report.

It  was grounded in 2016 and then used for a film shooting, the report said. PIA was 210,000 Euros for the shooting.

The plane was then sold in Germany for $103,000 and the engine for $213,000.

When the present administration took charge NAB and the FIA was already investigating the case.

The report said PIA had completely cooperated with investigators.

The NOC issued by the Pakistan Air Force for Air Marshal (retd) Arshad Malik to work as the PIA chief was also submitted in court.

The issue of the plane’s disappearance was first raised in the Senate in 2017. The government had also formed a committee to investigate it.

A PIA official had told Dawn at the time that the plane had been charted by a British company for a  movie in Malta, following which the plane was flown to Germany to be sold.

“It’s a 30-year-old aircraft and had already been grounded,” the official had said,

The Official added that it would have been very expensive for PIA to bring the plane back to Pakistan, which is why it was sold to a company in Germany.