ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Wednesday it would bring back within two days a passenger plane impounded by Malaysia earlier this month, saying a Malaysian court had dismissed the case and PIA had already paid $7million to a leasing company it was in dispute with.
Malaysia seized the Boeing 777 aircraft on January 15 after a court allowed an application by lessor Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited to keep it grounded until the result of a $14-million lease dispute with PIA in Britain.
On Wednesday, a Malaysian court ordered the immediate release of the PIA plane after the airline and Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited reached an amicable settlement in a UK court, PIA said.
“The Malaysian court has dismissed the case after our settlement with the leasing company,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan told Arab News.
Pakistan had already paid $7 million to the leasing company, but it was claiming an additional $2 million in lease payments, and PIA hoped the national carrier and the lessor would be able to “sort this out between ourselves,” the spokesperson said.
He added that the airline was now readying a crew to send to Malaysia to bring back the aircraft as a passenger flight.
On January 15, PIA had called the decision by the Malaysian court to impound the plane “one-sided” and an “unacceptable situation” as the airline had to make alternate arrangements for passengers’ travel.
The two jets were leased to PIA by Dublin-based AerCap, the world’s largest aircraft lessor, in 2015. They are part of a portfolio that AerCap sold to Peregrine Aviation Co. Ltd, an investment unit of NCB Capital, the brokerage arm of National Commercial Bank SJSC, in 2018.
The leasing company filed a case against PIA in the London High Court in October 2020 for its failure to pay a leasing fee of about $14 million, which had been pending for six months. In response, PIA had argued for a reduction in overhead charges since the COVID-19 pandemic had badly affected the aviation industry.
The UK court had adjourned the case after both parties pleaded to reach an out of court settlement.