KARACHI: Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has cancelled thepermission for the scheduled international flight NL 221/224 of Shaheen AirInternational (SAI) of Islamabad-Dubai-Islamabad with effect from July 13.
In a letter served to SAI on Monday, CAA directed the airline to intimatethe affected passengers accordingly to avoid any inconvenience. Moreover,the aviation regulatory body has requested Dubai bound passengers inreferred flight from July 13 onwards to make alternative arrangements.
According to CAA, SAI is a defaulter of more than Rs1.25 billion of CAAwith regard to various charges; however, SAI has alleged that theregulatory body is supporting Emirates Airline instead of local industry ina bid to facilitate Emirates’ new A380 service.
Earlier on Sunday Emirates Airlines’ double-decker A380 with a 625passenger capacity landed at the new Islamabad International Airport (IIA)in a special one-off arrangement.
“We are proud to have operated this special A380 flight to Islamabad, thefirst time ever that our flagship aircraft has landed in Pakistan. TheEmirates A380 is fundamental to our overall strategy, and bringing thispopular aircraft to Islamabad represents a significant milestone in ouroperations to Pakistan, a country we flew our first ever flight to in 1985.We are very keen to now launch a scheduled A380 service to Pakistan andwill continue to work with authorities to make these plans a reality,” saidSheikh Majid Al Mualla.