KARACHI: Shaheen Air International has been given special permission to bring back 300 Pakistanis stranded in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) informed Geo News on Thursday.
According to a spokesperson, Shaheen Air International is in debt of over Rs1.5 billion and is only allowed to operate Hajj flights.
The stranded passengers, the majority of whom hail from Chaman district of Balochistan, had appealed to the Pakistani government to help them.
The flight was cancelled as Shaheen Air International cannot land any plane at the Guangzhou airport after heavy taxes were imposed on the airline.
The airline had earlier promised to send another plane for the stuck passengers, however, the flight had been cancelled.
The airline has also refunded the tickets to the passengers, however, the passengers complained that all the other flights cost a lot more than the price they have been refunded.
According to one of the passengers, the flight was supposed to take off on July 29 with Shaheen Air administration promising to give immigration letter.
However, no immigration letter has been given yet with most of the passengers’ visas expiring, the passenger added.
Another passenger, Ahmedullah, said their July 29 flight was cancelled without any prior warning.
The Shaheen Air International authorities have told us that their operations have been stopped at the airport and that they can’t fly their planes at the Guangzhou airport, he said
“So many people including businessmen, women and students are struck here. There are also about 10 to 15 families,” he added.
He shared that authorities promised to fly them out on August 2 and August 5 but both of those flights were cancelled.
On June 22, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) briefly sealed off the central office of Shaheen Air in Karachi, over non-payment of Rs910 million in Federal Excise Duty (FED).
According to the revenue authority, the office was ordered to be reopened after the private airline provided it with two cheques worth Rs910 million.
Prior to that, the central office of the airline was sealed off after talks between FBR officials and Shaheen Air administration failed.
Earlier in May, the FBR had asked Civil Aviation Authority to suspend local flight operations of Shaheen Air over failure to pay the FED, The News had reported.
