Pakistani aviation regulator Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has threatened to shut Shaheen Air International in 45 days if it fails to submit required documents for renewal of its long pending passengers’ pick-and-drop licence. Suddenly the regulator seems to have woken up and and realised documents are missing. On the other hands the airline has accused the regulator and its Director General of having “personal vendetta against the airline”.
Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday that “Shaheen Air International’s (SAI) documents for Regular Public Transport (RPT) are incomplete,”. At the same time PCAA has barred Shaheen Airline from flying on its newly opened Multan-Oman, on Sunday while the airline has already sold tickets for the route. As a result of this action the airline claimed “around 300 passengers were stranded at both airports”. But the regulator claims the tickets were sold in clear violation of Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority’s regulations.
On a different front the regulator has been saying the airline owes billions of rupees but today it turned out to be Rs480 million in various taxes and fees. An official of PCAA told the Express Tribune “the regulator has reduced availability of Avio bridge (a movable bridge placed against an aircraft door to allow passengers to embark or disembark) to Shaheen Air International,”.
In an ironic statement the same official said that“we are providing the air bridge to those airlines which pay their dues on time and follow all the other rules and regulation set by the authority from time-to-time,”. We wonder when they are going to apply the same rule to PIA who owes billions of rupees to PCAA in various fees.
SAI Chief Commercial Officer Faisal Rafique while responding to this said at a press conference that CAA had been targeting the private airline since a long time to “give favours to foreign airlines and the loss making national carrier: Pakistan International Airlines.”
He also accused PCAA of using delaying tactics to punish the airline and damage its operations.
We tried reaching the PCAA multiple times but it seems they still live in stone age where there are no phone or no fashion of answering phone calls. Still if the PCAA want to respond to this our pages are available and will publish their version.