shaheen air profile

Shaheen Air or formally known as Shaheen Air International is a private airline that provides passenger, cargo and charter services. It serves the major cities of Pakistan and Persian Gulf. It was established in December 1993 and on October 25, 1994, it was accorded the status of 'Second National Carrier of Pakistan', by the Government of Pakistan. Its main base is Jinnah International Airport (KHI), Karachi, with a hub at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (ISB), Islamabad.

Besides serving major domestic routes i.e. Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar, Shaheen Air has also been operating flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Kuwait, Doha and Muscat from almost all the major international gateways of Pakistan
History
The airline was established and started operations in December 1993. It was formed as a project of the Shaheen Foundation, that is named after the Peregrine falcon within the 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 leased 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 this status is no longer recognised.


In July 2002, the airline management was changed when it was taken over by TAWA International Inc. of Canada. The new chairman of Shaheen Air, Khalid M Sehbai, made a foreign direct investment in Shaheen Air with the objective of taking the airline as successful as its past. During November 2004, the airline inducted its first Boeing 737-200 Advanced for its main route of Karachi-Lahore-Karachi, which allowed the phasing out of its Soviet Russian aircraft.

During 2005 the cargo division of the airline also grew when it signed an accord with the Pakistan Post and British Airways Cargo. For cargo use Shaheen Air Cargo acquired Il-76 aircraft. The aircraft were used on Dubai-Karachi routes[citation needed]. 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[citation needed].

In 2006, Shaheen Air International (SAI) became Shaheen Air and the airline introduced a new livery and corporate website. The airline also introduced flights to Quetta from Karachi. The Governor of Balochistan said that the improvement of air links were also discussed in the ongoing talks between Pakistan and Iran and he has offered the management of Shaheen Air to operate Quetta-Zahidan flights. Initially SAI operated eight flight to Karachi-Quetta and Quetta-Lahore. He announced that SAI would also be allowed to operate flights between Islamabad and Quetta. On May 22, 2006 the Civil Aviation Authority stopped all flights of Shaheen Air as it owed millions of rupees to the CAA. On May 25, 2006 Shaheen Air was cleared by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to resume its domestic and international operations. The clearance letter was issued by CAA following receipt of the cheque from SAI towards payment of the outstanding dues. On September 18, 2006 it was announced that Shaheen Air was to start a four times weekly service from Islamabad to Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield in the UK.[1] However, no flights were ever launched to Doncaster.

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 November 2007 Shaheen Air International acquired two Airbus A310-300 aircraft from Turkish company, Saga Airlines.[2] The first A310-300 (TC-SGC) had an all-white colour scheme with large Shaheen Air titles on both side of the fuselage. The aircraft flies twice weekly on both the new Islamabad-Lahore-Kuwait route. On February 7, 2008, their second UK destination Leeds Bradford Airport flights were launched. The twice weekly service to Leeds Bradford Airport was discontinued. However, no reason was released to the press. The A310-300s were returned to Saga Airlines in 2009 and all UK routes were discontinued.

Passenger Fleet Type Total Passengers
(Economy) Routes Notes

Boeing 737-200 5 Short and Medium haul