Daily Times

The Pakistan Air Line (PIA) is next to reaching another milestone in its way by equipping the eight Boeing 777 planes with Inflight Entertainment Systems (IFE) which had been off work for a long time.

The IFE system will be equipped with movies, shows and games that are remarkable to play a bouncing role in long-rooted routes for the customers, thus PIA will soon be getting the new IFE  in PKR 700 million, which travels to Europe and in times to America.

Once the IFE system goes, it will bring easiness both to the image and finance of the PIA.

Meanwhile, M/s Aviation Avionics, a native firm that will provide the IFE system with whom the agreement went back in July 2019.

Before fixing the IFE system in the planes, the system would be checked from international bodies, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration of United States) along with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Pakistan — in the pursuit to ensure that the IFE system is good enough to compete with other airlines that share almost the same route with PIA, like that of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar airline.

Although, from a source in PIA it is learned that some officials and stakeholders continue to disrupt the agreement as it takes very low cost compared to other companies that we’re offering the same system to PIA in PKR 2.786 billion, besides the firm M/s Aviation Avionics belongs to a local businessman.

However, since August 2018, the PIA sustains the improving approach in its belt — in December 2019, PIA reported a 41% increase in year-on-year revenue due to discontinuation of unprofitable routes, the reintroduction of idle aircraft, and a sharp increase in the airline cargo space utilization.