PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) has sold its A310-300(ET) stored at Leipzig/Halle for one-and-a-half years to the airport operator for an undisclosed sum, ProPakistani has reported. The original sale of the unit back in 2016 became the subject of an embezzlement case against the then CEO of the carrier.
The deal does not include the two General Electric CF6-80C2A8 engines, which have been acquired separately by ULS Airlines Cargo (GO, Istanbul Airport), a Turkish cargo specialist which currently operates three A310-300(F)s.
Both the airframe and the engines were sold in competitive bidding under the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules, PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar has said.
The 1992 vintage unit, AP-BEQ (msn 656), completed its revenue service with the Pakistani flag carrier in October 2016, Flightradar24 ADS-B shows. It was then sold to the Leipzig/Halle airport operator for just PKR5.6 million rupees (USD46,100) in a deal authorised by the then CEO, Bernd Hildenbrand. It was later revealed that Hildenbrand was connected to the airport operator and consequently an embezzlement case was filed by the Pakistani government, although the executive was allowed to leave Pakistan.
The Airbus widebody twinjet was positioned to Malta International on November 25, 2016, under a charter contract with a British movie production company, prior to being ferried for storage at Leipzig on December 5, 2016. Since then, the aircraft has been inactive.
Previously, Leipzig airport wanted to display the ex-PIA A310 in a museum.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the Pakistani flag carrier continues to own six A310-300s, all of which are stored at Karachi International. PIA has retired the type at the end of 2016.
