Shaheen Air International
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| Shaheen Air International | ||
|---|---|---|
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| IATA NL |
ICAO SAI |
Callsign SHAHEEN AIR |
| Founded | 1993 | |
| Hubs | ||
| Focus cities | ||
| Fleet size | 7 | |
| Destinations | 14 (7 Domestic, 7 International) | |
| Headquarters | Karachi, Pakistan | |
| Key people | Khalid Mahmud Sehbai (Chairman & CEO) | |
| Website: http://www.shaheenair.com | ||
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.
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[edit] 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 Soviet 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 as it owed millions of rupees to the CAA. The management 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 the 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 UK. However, no flights were ever launched.
On October 2007, Shaheen Air International announced at the World Travel Market in London that they would be commencing flights from Islamabad to London Luton Airport. On February 7, 2008, their second UK destination Leeds Bradford Airport flights were launched. On November 2007, Shaheen Air International acquired 2 Airbus A310-300 aircraft for the long-haul routes to the UK leased from Turkish company, Saga Airlines. The first delivered Long Haul A310-300 (TC-SGC) is currently in and all white colour scheme with large Shaheen Air titles on both side of the fuselage. The aircraft currently flies twice weekly on both the new Islamabad - Lahore - Kuwait route and twice weekly service to Leeds Bradford Airport in the UK.
[edit] Suspension of UK operations
Shaheen ceased operating to Leeds Bradford Airport in the UK from 1st June 2008 no reason was given, they have not announced any resumption plans nor addition of planned new destinations (Birmingham, Glasgow, Luton and Stansted). The airline also failed to introduce the second A310 into service, while TC-SGC will be returned to its owners.
[edit] Services
[edit] Newspapers and Magazines
Newspapers and magazines are available to all first & business class passengers on SAI flights. Free newspapers are also provided to all economy class passengers. The SAI in-flight magazine, Parwaz, is provided to all passengers on all flights. Parwaz was introduced on SAI flights in 2007 and it is published monthly.
[edit] Destinations
Shaheen Air International operates the following services (at February 2008):
[edit] Asia
- South Asia
- Pakistan
- West Asia
- Kuwait
- Oman
- Qatar
- United Arab Emirates
[edit] Former services
Shaheen used to serve Faisalabad, Sukkur and Leeds Bradford.
[edit] Fleet
Shaheen Air fleet includes the following aircraft as of 2008.
| Type | Total | Passenger (Business/Economy) |
Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-200 | 7 | 12 Business / 106 Economy | Short and Medium haul | 1 stored at Karachi used for spares |
| 8 |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
[edit] Additional References
- The News, Jang Newspapers "Shaheen Air, British Airways reach accord"
- Dawn Newspapers "Shaheen Air, Pak Post ink accord"
- Jang Newspapers "Shaheen Air inducts Boeing"
- The Nation, Pakistan Edition "Shaheen Air starts Quetta flights"
- Pakistan Travel News "Shaheen Air (SAI) Suspended Flights For Islamabad from UK "
[edit] See also
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