KARACHI: Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Pakistan on Friday bannedinternational flight operation of Shaheen International Airlines, barringits flights for Saudi Arab, because of more than one billion rupees of itsdefault on payment to the authority.
“Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) decided to discontinue all theairport services nationwide for the international flights of Shaheen AirInternational except its Saudi Arab’s flights from July 16 on non-paymentof Rs1.5 billion dues,” the authority said in a statement.
Civil Aviation Authority asked passengers with scheduled flights on theairline to arrange alternatives to avoid any inconvenience.
Early this week, the authority barred Shaheen Air from undertaking aninternational flight operation to Dubai. It cancelled the permission forschedule international flight NL 221/224 of Shaheen Air ofIslamabad-Dubai-Islamabad sector with effect from 13 July.
The authority said the airline defaulted on payment to CAA on account ofvarious levies.
Director Marketing Zohaib Hassan at the airline said the flight ban wouldonly lead to distress for the passengers. “Immediate suspension” is not inaccordance with the PCAA laws,” he added.
Hassan said talks were underway to discuss the new repayment schedule withthe authority. He acknowledged delays in payment to the authority.
“Temporary delay in payments is limited to a few weeks, and SAI is liableto settle all the impending and lawful PCAA dues to its earliest,” he added.
Last month, Shaheen Air International Limited paid Rs910 million inoutstanding tax amount after the authorities sealed the airline’s headquarters in Karachi for a brief period. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)had locked the head office of the privately-held airline for an hour torecover the outstanding taxes.