Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority has stopped Shaheen Air to operate the ferry flight to bring its stranded passengers back from Guangzhou, China. Shaheen air announced that it is going to operate a special flight to bring back its stranded passengers from Guangzhou. The flight was supposed to fly to Guangzhou on Friday but Shaheen air claims that “CAA raised a technical issue with the aircraft at the last minute which will cause severe inconvenience for the passengers.”
Shaheen’s Director marketing Zohaib Hassan said that this step “raises serious doubts about their intentions against Shaheen Air.”
The airline confirmed that they are talking to charter companies to bring back the passengers who are stranded from over one week. Shaheen planned the special flight NL 892 that was supposed to depart on August 3 from Lahore at 3 AM and reach Guangzhou in the afternoon at 12 PM (China time). The same flight bearing the number NL 891 was supposed to pick Pakistani passengers and depart from Guangzhou at 2 pm and reach Lahore airport at 6 pm”.
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority and Shaheen Air’s management are embroiled in a complex conflict that is affecting thousands of passengers of Shaheen Air and threatens the livelihood of those working at Shaheen. These passengers are stranded in Guangzhou and Civil Aviation Authority is not allowing Shaheen to bring them back. An airline that is already debt-ridden and struggling to survive is burdened with further costs of keeping these passengers in Guangzhou and now pay for a charter plane while their own plane is available to do the same.