CAA warns Shaheen Air of suspension, wants clearance of dues

Airline says authority is favouring foreign carriers and PIA, demands DG's removal

KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has warned Shaheen Air International that it will suspend its operations in 45 days if it fails to submit required documents for renewal of its long pending passengers' pick-and-drop licence.

"Shaheen Air International's (SAI) documents for Regular Public Transport (RPT) are incomplete," CAA said on Monday.

Additionally, the aviation regulator [CAA] barred the SAI from flying on a new international route, Multan-Oman, on Sunday.

"The airlines had already sold tickets on the new route in clear violation of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority's regulations," CAA added.

The regulator said the airlines owed it Rs480 million on account of taxes and fees.

"The regulator has reduced availability of Avio bridge [a movable bridge placed against an aircraft door to allow passengers to embark or disembark] to Shaheen Air International," an official at the regulatory body told The Express Tribune.



"We are providing the air bridge to those airlines that pay their dues on time and follow all the other rules and regulation set by the authority from time-to-time," he said.

SAI Chief Commercial Officer Faisal Rafique - in response to the warning and allegations of violation of its rules - said at a press conference that the CAA had been targeting private carriers for a long time to "favour foreign airlines and the loss-making Pakistan International Airlines".

"The Civil Aviation's.....no response has caused us to bear a loss of Rs7.5 million last [Sunday] night due to postponement of Multan-Oman flight," he said.

"CAA's polices and attitude caused us a loss of Rs30 million when we started our Manchester flight earlier. Later on, wrong polices caused us to lose the Manchester and Kuala Lumpur routes," he said.

"The CAA does not clear induction of newly arrived aircraft into our fleets for about 15-20 days. This unnecessary delay in clearance causes us losses of $20,000 per day per aircraft in shape of airport charges. Earlier, the CAA used to clear such aircraft in 3-4 days only," Rafique complained.



He said SAI's dues amounting to Rs480 million to CAA at present were not more than three weeks' dues on an average. Reduction in cash-flows in recent months has caused a slight delay in paying the dues, he said.

"We have asked the CAA to grant us time to pay all the pending dues by June [2017]. Disruption in cash flows is due to CAA's poor policies."

The SAI official also said that his airline has submitted all the required documents with the CAA to renew the Regular Public Transport (RPT) licence for one-year proper time period. However, "it [CAA] keeps renewing the RPT licence for 15-30 days instead for a proper one-year time period," he added.

Rafique further said that by not renewing their licence for a one-year period, as per the court's instruction, the CAA was in contempt of court.

He held CAA DG responsible for the crisis at SAI. "We demand his removal," said the SAI CCO.

"If the DG is not removed then Pakistan-based private airlines would shut down in the next 3-4 years," he said.