Malaysia ‘impounds’ PIA Boeing 777 for non-payment of $14 mn

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: For the first time in a century of civil aviation, Malaysia ‘impounded’ a Boeing 777 aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Friday for the non-payment of USD 14 million as lease dues.

Officials seized the PIA plane a day after a local Kuala Lumpur court ordered the seizure over the non-payment, causing acute embarrassment to the Imran Khan government. Malaysia ‘held back’ the PIA plane after a court order on a legal dispute between the Pakistani national carrier and another party.

The officials directed the crew and the passengers, who had already boarded, to disembark, seized the aircraft, and sent them to hotels until their next flight. The aircraft’s 18-member crew was also stranded in Kuala Lumpur due to the seizure, and will now quarantine for 14 days as per COVID-19 protocols.

The PIA had leased two aircraft, including the said Boeing-777, from a Vietnamese company in 2015.

“The passengers are being looked after and alternate arrangements for their travel have been finalized,” PIA tweeted.

Officials said that Flight 895 took off from Karachi and reached Kuala Lumpur on Friday. It was scheduled to fly back to Islamabad immediately. Because of this, it had more crew members on board.

“Passengers were already on board and the pilot was about to take off but Malaysian civil aviation authorities directed the pilot to stop the plane and get off it along with all the passengers,” PIA said.

The leasing company had filed a case against PIA in a UK court in October 2020 for its failure to pay the leasing fee pending for six months. The PIA had sought a discount in overhead charges as the pandemic had seriously affected the aviation industry.

This prompted the leasing company to request the Malaysian court to order the seizure of the aircraft (Flight 895), scheduled to land on Friday, as per the international civil aviation leasing laws.

The PIA argued that the Malaysian court took a one-sided decision.

But Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) expressed displeasure on the PIA’s “irresponsible attitude and maladministration,” adding that the airline seemed to be “unaware of international civil aviation leasing laws.”

“When PIA knew that Boeing-777 was involved in a court case, why did it allow the aircraft to fly abroad in the first place?” the CAA asked. “Wasn’t PIA aware of the fact that violating international civil aviation laws will embarrass the country?” The PIA will now have to clear all the dues at once to get the aircraft back, CAA said.

The PIA tried to wriggle out of the embarrassment. It tweeted: “A PIA aircraft has been held back by a local court in Malaysia taking one-sided decision pertaining to a legal dispute between PIA and another party pending in a UK court. The passengers are being looked after and alternate arrangements for their travel have been finalized.”

“It is an unacceptable situation and PIA has engaged the support from Government of Pakistan to take up this matter using diplomatic channels,” it said.

A PIA spokesman told the media that it was a payment dispute between PIA and the party, Perigreen, which was filed in the UK courts about six months ago.

Without giving more details, the spokesman claimed that the Malaysian court took an “ex-parte decision causing inconvenience to the passengers who had already boarded the plane.”