Shaheen Air International (Urdu: شاہین ایئر) was a private Pakistani airline with its head office at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi and was founded by the Shah family. It remained Pakistan's second-largest airline until its liquidation in 2018 due to financial troubles. The airline owed Rs. 1.36 billion to Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAA) and its employees salaries.[1]
It provided passenger, cargo and charter services, to major cities in Pakistan and the Middle East. It suspended all operations in October 2018.
Shaheen Air International was founded in 1993 by Shaheen Foundation.[2] Shaheen Air Cargo was a division of Shaheen Air International that was established in 1993, soon after the inception of the airline. Shaheen Air provided special services for sending small time-sensitive consignments.[3] The airline's early operations were fraught with difficulties, exacerbated by a 50 percent fare discount for retired and serving military officers and high operating costs due to a limited number of aircraft on wet lease.[2]
The airline faced financial challenges, losing Rs 60 million between December 1999 and May 2000, in addition to owing Rs 70 million to the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan for services during the same period.[2]
On 22 May 2004, the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAA) grounded Shaheen Air as the airline owed it millions of rupees. Three days later the airline was cleared by the CAA to resume its domestic and international operations. The clearance letter was issued by CAA following receipt of a payment from Shaheen Air International towards the outstanding dues and funds. The same year, Shaheen Air International (SAI) became Shaheen Air and the airline introduced a new livery and corporate website.
Shaheen Air started its own maintenance repair organization (MRO) by the name of Shaheen Engineering and Aircraft Maintenance Services (SEAMS) to provide maintenance services to Shaheen Air as well as other regional and international airlines.
In its international operations, Shaheen Air operated between Pakistan and numerous destinations in the Middle East. Shaheen Air once started flight operations to Riyadh with three different routes from Pakistan.[4]
Shaheen Air was Pakistan's second-largest airline next to the flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines but due to the downturn in 2018, the airline declined. The airline was declared a defaulter by PCAA and FBR.[5] In October 2018, SAI flight operations were completely suspended by the local regularity body PCAA and the airline declared a financial defaulter. Since November 2018, all SAI offices have closed.[6]
Investor Rumor and Liquidation
Shaheen reported an un-named investor from Saudi Arabia was to help the airline return to service from January 2019.[7]
Even after repeated protests by the 5,000 employees, who were still owed months of wages, as of February 2019 no investigation into the matter had been initiated by any of the agencies, including the Federal Board of Revenue, Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and the Federal Ministry of Aviation.[8]
Destinations
Shaheen Air operated the following services as of July 2018.[9] All of their routes were suspended in October 2018.[10] In January 2019, they announced they would not resume business.
Shaheen Air Airbus A330-200A Shaheen Air International Tupolev Tu-154M taxiing at Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates in 1999.Shaheen Air Airbus A320-200
Two Airbus A320-200 remain in storage.[14] The rest of the aircraft were leased and were returned to the lessors after the airline ceased operations.[15] Pakistani law requires a passenger airline to have a minimum of three aircraft in its fleet, and Shaheen's fleet of two stored aircraft does not fulfil the mandatory requirement of the license to operate. Many of the old derelict planes of Shaheen Air are abandoned at Jinnah International Airport. On 26 January 2020, one of these planes, a Boeing 737-200, registered as AP-BIS, was destroyed by fire.[16] 2 Ex Shaheen Air A330s are operated by SereneAir.
22 April 2012 - the main landing gear of a Boeing 737-400 operating as Flight 122 from Islamabad to Karachi collapsed during its landing at Karachi. No injuries were reported among the 122 passengers and 6 crew on board.[17]
24 September 2015 - a Boeing 737-400 registered AP-BJR and operating as Flight 791 took off from a taxiway instead of the runway while departing from Sharjah. The aircraft was undamaged in the incident.[18]
23 November 2015 - A Boeing 737-400 registration AP-BJO, operating as Flight 142, collapsed during a botched and mishandled landing. There were 112 passengers and 7 crew members on board; 10 passengers were injured. The cause of the accident was due to the captain being intoxicated and under the influence of alcohol.[19]
^ abcBrömmelhörster, Jörn; Paes, Wolf-Christian (2004). The Military as an Economic Actor: Soldiers in Business. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 138-139. ISBN9780333999288. From a financial standpoint, the biggest project is the Shaheen International Airline (SAI). However, the venture was mismanaged due to the highly bureaucratic policies of the Shaheen Foundation's management. As a result SAI lost about Rs 60 million from December 1999 to May 2000 alone. This was in addition to the Rs 70 million it owed to the Civil Aviation Authority for the services provided during this period. The situation in the initial days of the airline's operations was even worse. Some sources attributed this to the mismanagement of the 50 per cent fare discount offered to retired and serving military officers. The fact that the aircraft, which were on 'wet' lease, were limited in number added continuously to the company's operating costs.
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