Malaysian court releases Pakistan national carrier's grounded plane

A Malaysian court ordered Wednesday the immediate release of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane detained in the Southeast Asian nation nearly two weeks ago over a British court case about its lease. Malaysia seized the Boeing 777 aircraft on Jan. 15 after a court allowed an application by lessor Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited to keep it grounded until the result of a $14m lease dispute with PIA in Britain. The Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the release after both sides said they had reached an amicable settlement of the dispute, involving two planes leased to PIA, a lawyer for the airline said. “Peregrine has agreed to withdraw its suit against Pakistan International Airlines Corp (PIAC) and for the injunction orders to be set aside,” said its lawyer, Kwan Will Sen. “With this, the two Boeing aircraft operated by PIAC would be released with immediate effect.” Pakistan’s national carrier is now readying a crew for the plane to resume a passenger flight home by Friday, its spokesman, Abdullah Khan, said.<br/>