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 | 12 (6 Domestic, 6 International) | |
| Headquarters | Karachi, Pakistan | |
| Key people | ||
| Website: http://www.shaheenair.com | ||
Shaheen Air International is a Pakistani private airline based in Karachi. It mainly operates scheduled services in the main citi
es 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 rupees 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.
In October 2007, Shaheen Air International announced at the World Travel Market in London that they would be commencing there planned Long Haul services from Islamabad direct to London Luton Airport on Tuesday February 5th, 2008. There second UK destination Leeds Bradford Airport flights will commence 2 days later on Thursday February 7th 2008.
In November 2007, Shaheen Air International acquired 2 Airbus A310-300 aircraft for is planned long Haul routes to the UK. These are TC-SGB & TC-SGC, which are leased from Turkish company. Saga Airlines.
The main GSA and operators of Shaheen Air International in the Untied Kingdom and Ireland is Ababeel Travels & Tours Ltd which started off as a small family run business. The company became LTD in 2002 and now have 12 branches in the UK, aiming to have a branch in every major city. The head office is located in Luton, Beds.
Newly announced Flight schedule for Islamabad – UK routes
TUE & SAT
ISB 17:00 – LTN 20:30 LTN 22:00 – ISB 10:45
Starts March 30th 2008 (tentative date)
THU & SUN
ISB 17:00 – LBA 20:30 LBA 22:00 – ISB 10:45
Starts February 7th 2008
Fleet
- 2 Airbus A310-300 Leased from Saga Airlines
- 7 Boeing B737-200
Destinations
Shaheen Air International operates the following services (at February 2007):
- Bangladesh
- Dhaka (Zia International Airport) (Planned 2008/2009)
- Sri Lanka
- Colombo (Bandaranaike International Airport) (Planned 2008/2009)
- United Kingdom
- Birmingham (Birmingham International Airport (planned for summer 2008)
- Glasgow (Glasgow International Airport (planned for summer 2008)
- Leeds/Bradford (Leeds Bradford International Airport) [starts 07 February 2008]
- Luton (Luton Airport) [tentative launch date 30 March 2008]
- Stansted (Stansted Airport) (planned for summer 2008)
Former
Shaheen used to serve Sukkur.
Planned
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