Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has announced that it has entered into a deal with the US Trade Development Agency (USTDA) with the aim to conduct a feasibility study on an engineering project named as ‘Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO)’.

The deal was inked by US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson, on behalf of the USTDA, and PIA Managing Director Muhammad Aijaz Haroon.

The said agreement offers a grant worth Rs 58 million, and will be provided for carrying out the feasibility study.

Under the MRO project, PIA would be providing maintenance, repair and overhaul services to other airlines of the region.

The declaration was made Aijaz Haroon, Managing Director of PIA.

Further, Mr. Aijaz added that the facility will generate profit worth $100 million and up to 5,000 highly technical jobs.

On the other hand, the US ambassador Patterson said that around $9 billion potential existed in the region’s aviation sector which should be shared by the PIA for becoming an economically viable airline.

Haroon said, “This joint initiative by the USTDA and PIA underscores the confidence and trust in PIA’s engineering capabilities to create a state-of-the-art MRO facility in the region.”

While answering a question, Mr. Aijaz said that PIA’s five-year business plan is based on turning its cost centres into profit centres and largely aims on customer services, which will highly help the airline return to past glory and profitability.