Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) invites bids from interested parties for dry lease of up to three (03) narrow-body and one (01) wide-body aircraft as per following details:
Narrow-body Twinjet Aircraft
Number of Aircraft: Up to three (03) Seating Configuration: 170 plus (all-economy) Delivery Schedule: Q2-Q4 2020 Vintage: 2008 onward Lease Period: Six years or corresponding to first twelve yearly check
Wide-body Twinjet Aircraft
Number of Aircraft: One (01) Seating Configuration: 300 plus (two-class) Delivery Schedule: Q2-Q4 2020 Vintage: 2008 onward Lease Period: Three years extendable to six years
PIA will probably lease a 777-300ER similar to AP-BMS which has a 3-4-3 layout in economy and would probably deploy it on the Saudi routes pulling out smaller 777-200ERs for Europe.
I do not think PIA will introduce a new type i.e A330 or 787
As for the narrow bodies maybe its a good idea to finally introduce the A321-200 either NEO or CEO.
Introduce it two class layout 16/170 and use it for Far East routes to Kuala Lumpur and maybe attach Singapore to it, make it like a triangle flight. PIA has enough 170 seat A320s and should introduce the larger version.
Fuel efficient NEO version could serve routes like Lahore-Hong Kong-Lahore, Lahore-Kuala Lumpur-Singapore-Lahore, Lahore-Bangkok-Lahore Lahore-Beijing-Lahore with low fuel cost and nearly 200 seats and these 5-6 hour flights could be good revenue generation source for PIA.
