Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) regulatory department has issued notice to Shaheen International Airlines to remove 12 aircraft from flying for technical reasons and accused the airline of consistently violating international norms. Airlines' own regulatory department as well as CAA regulatory department routinely check aircraft and undertake some surprise inspection as well, a senior CAA official told Business Recorder.
The official confirmed that CAA has issued a notice to Shaheen Airlines according to standard operating procedures (SOPs) and asked the airlines to pursue and invest in aircraft while not compromising the security of passengers. Not only are the 12 aircraft obsolete, they are also technically unsound. The official added that Shaheen Airlines is not even paying rent to CAA.
When contacted, a Shaheen Airlines official acknowledged that the airline is under immense pressure and the management is in the process of following the CAA directives. On June 16, 2016, a plane of Shaheen Airlines escaped disaster at Lahore airport due to professional skills of the pilot. Last year, a pilot refused to fly one of the planes when he found a hole in one of the wings. In another incident last year, at least 10 passengers were injured as a Karachi-Lahore flight carrying over a hundred people crash landed at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport and the reason: the pilot was intoxicated.