What is Shaheen Air International?

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Shaheen Air International
IATA NL	ICAO SAI	Callsign SHAHEEN AIR
Founded		1993
Hubs		Jinnah International Airport
Focus cities		Allama Iqbal International Airport Islamabad International Airport
Fleet size		7
Destinations		11 (5 Domestic, 6 International)
Headquarters		Karachi, Pakistan
Key people
Website: [1]

Shaheen Air International is a Pakistani private airline based in Karachi. It mainly operates scheduled services in the main cities of Pakistan and to the Gulf. Its main base is Jinnah International Airport (KHI), Karachi, with a hub at Islamabad International Airport (ISB), Islamabad.

History

The airline was established and started operations in December 1993. It was formed as a project of the Shaheen Foundation, Pakistan Air Force. In October 1994 it was designated as the second national carrier of Pakistan and in February 1995 began international operations, with a scheduled service between Peshawar and Dubai. When the airline started it operated a fleet of Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft on most of its domestic flights. Shaheen Air International (SAI) was given the status of being the "second national airline of Pakistan" during the first couple of years of operation, however now as more airlines have entered the market this status is no longer recognised.

In recent years in July 2004, the airline management was changed due to its fall in productivity and un-successfulness of its previous approach, the airline was overtaken by TAWA International Inc. of Canada. The new chairman of Shaheen Air, Khalid M Sehbai has made a huge Foreign Direct Investment in Shaheen Air with the sole objective to make the airline back to its successful past.

During November 2004, the airline inducted its first Boeing 737-200 Advanced for its main route of Karachi-Lahore-Karachi, that arrived at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi and phasing out of its Russian aircraft to improve services and efficiency as oil prices were on the rise.

During 2005, the cargo division of the airline also grew when it signed an accord with the Pakistan Post and British Airways Cargo to facilitate exporters by airlifting 150 tonnes of export cargo. For this purpose, Shaheen Air Cargo's division had also acquired IL-76 aircraft. The aircraft will be used on Dubai - Karachi routes. The initial two flights on January 3 and 5 carried about 100 metric tonnes export cargo that was delivered at Dubai for onward transportation to Europe and USA by British Airways flights.

In 2006, Shaheen Air International (SAI) became Shaheen Air and the airline introduced a new livery and website to become inline with technological advances that were taking place in the industry. The airline also introduced flights to Quetta - Karachi. The Governor of Balochistan said that the improvement of air links was also discussed in the ongoing talks between Pakistan and Iran and he has offered the management of Shaheen Air to operate Quetta - Zahidan sector flights. He said that initially SAI is operating with eight flight schedules on Karachi-Quetta route and Quetta - Lahore route. He announced that SAI would also operate flight between Islamabad and Quetta later on.

On May 22, 2006 The Civil Aviation Authority stopped all flights of Shaheen Air due to it owed millions of ruppees to the CAA. The managements of the airline were pre-informed about the CAA decision and the ban would remain intact till the further decision by the aviation regulators. On May 25, 2006 Shaheen Air International (SAI) was cleared by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to resume its domestic and international operations from 1500 hours. The clearance letter was issued by CAA following receipt of the cheque from SAI towards payment of the outstanding dues to the satisfaction of CAA.

On September 18, 2006, it was announced ^[1] that Shaheen Air was to start a four times weekly service from Islamabad to Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield in the U.K. This has now been replaced with London.

On Marh 1 2007, it has be announced that Shaheen Air are to commence services from Luton Airport than add a second UK destination which was originally planned to be Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield. Instead now Shaheen are now planning to use the nearby Leeds Bradford Airport.

Fleet

• 7 Boeing B737-200

Destinations

Shaheen Air International operates the following services (at February 2007):

Pakistan

• Islamabad (Islamabad International Airport)
• Karachi (Jinnah International Airport)
• Lahore (Allama Iqbal International Airport)
• Multan (Multan International Airport)
• Peshawar (Peshawar International Airport)
• Quetta (Quetta International Airport)

Middle East

• Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi International Airport)
• Al Ain (Al Ain International Airport)
• Doha (Doha International Airport)
• Dubai (Dubai International Airport)
• Kuwait (Kuwait International Airport)
• Muscat (Seeb International Airport)

Former

Shaheen used to serve Faisalabad and Sukkar.

Planned

Shaheen Air plans to serve UK and USA in the future.

External links

• Shaheen Air International
• Pakistani Aviation

References

Additional References

• The News, Jang Newspapers "Shaheen Air, British Airways reach accord"
• Dawn Nespapers "Shaheen Air, Pak Post ink accord"
• Jang Newspapers "Shaheen Air inducts Boeing"
• The Nation, Pakistan Edition "Shaheen Air starts Quetta flights"

See also

	•  • [ e] Airlines of Pakistan
Current Airlines	Aero Asia • Airblue • Pakistan International Airlines • Shaheen Air International
Cargo Airlines	DHL Cargo Pakistan • Lynx Aviation • Pakistan International Cargo • Royal Airlines Cargo • Star Air • TCS Couriers
Charter Companies	Askari Aviation • Jahangir Siddiqui Charter • JSA • Pakistan Aviators & Aviation • Royal Airlines • Schon Air • Princely Jets
Future Airlines	Air Mashriq • Deewan International Airlines • Pearl Air • Safe Air
Defunct Airlines	Bhoja Air • Hajvairy Airlines • Orient Airways • Pak-Air • Raji Airlines • Super Airways
Other	Airports • CAA of Pakistan • List of airlines • List of defunct airlines • Shaheen Airport Services • Aviaction • Transport

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