Pakistan International Airlines is assessing whether any of its aircraft were damaged during a Pakistani Taliban raid at Karachi’s airport during the early morning of 9 June.
A carrier spokesman confirms that some aircraft, namely Boeing 747-300s, were located near the gunfire during the incident, but adds that the aircraft were “not airworthy” at the time of the incident.
He was responding to a query from Flightglobal following the emergence of imagery on social media that appears to show damage to the right side of a 747-300.
The image shows two large holes in the fuselage just above the windows on the lower deck, and just below the upper deck emergency exit. The holes appear too large to have been made by bullets, and there is a great deal of scarring around the edges.
According to Flightglobal’s Ascend Online database, PIA has four 747-300s, of which three are in storage. The Rolls-Royce RB211 powered aircraft, which were formerly operated by Cathay Pacific, have 503 economy class seats and are mainly used for pilgrimage flights.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
