Malaysian authorities impound PIA airplane over payment dispute
A Pakistan International
Airlines (PIA) plane was impounded by Malaysian authorities over a lease
payment dispute and is now parked at Kuala Lumpur International airport.
AP-BMH (msn 32717) had
operated a scheduled passenger service into the Malaysian capital from Islamabad International airport on May 29 when authorities stepped in to seize it.
PIA leases the plane
from AerCap, and it is owned by a special purpose vehicle called Peregrine Aviation Charlie
Limited (Peregrine).
In turn, Peregrine is owned
by NCB Capital, the investment arm of the Saudi Arabia-based National
Commercial Bank, and has over USD50 billion in assets under management.
PIA also has a second B777-200ER on lease from
AerCap from the same batch.
In late 2020, the lessor filed
a suit against PIA in the High Court of Justice in London, saying Pakistan’s
national carrier owed it approximately USD14 million in overdue lease payments.
It secured an ex-parte injunction to repossess both planes. Subsequently,
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad stopped AP-BMH from leaving after it landed
at Kuala Lumpur in March 2021. After two weeks of negotiations, the parties
reached a settlement, and the aircraft was released.
This time, AerCap reportedly secured an impound
order from a Malaysian court and says PIA owes it approximately USD4 million in
overdue lease payments for AP-BMH.
PIA has confirmed the claim
but says the amount it owes is around USD1.8 million.
Source: https://www.ch-aviation.com/