JEDDAH, 20 March 2008 — Shaheen Airways, a privately owned Pakistani airline based in Karachi, has extended its reach to the UK. Looking to serve the potentially lucrative Pakistani market in the UK, the airline began operations from London-Luton airport and from Leeds-Bradford airport in February.
The airline’s main business is scheduled services between Pakistan’s main cities and onward to the Gulf, capitalizing on migrant workers and tourists. While most of the Gulf States are on the destination list, the Kingdom is not. The company aims to penetrate the lucrative Haj and commercial market of travel to the Kingdom in future. Based at Jinnah International Airport Karachi, Shaeen’s hub is Islamabad International Airport.
“The expansion into the Saudi market is a rational extension of our existing core Gulf States business,” said Saleh Mutabbakani, Shaeen’s authorized representative in the Kingdom. “It perfectly integrates with our intent to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in Pakistan a year or so down the line and position the airline as the premier carrier from Pakistan and a significant player in the European routes to the Kingdom,” he added.
Khalid Sehbai, Shaheen’s chairman, is confident that the restructured airline with its modern aircraft is in a position to encourage investment from the Gulf States. “It has been a long journey to get the company into the condition that we feel able to actively seek investment,” he told Arab news. “However, meticulous attention to getting the appropriate finances and management systems in place have produced the results we hoped for.” The Leeds-Bradford route is set to increase to three times a week later this year with a new Friday departure. A fourth weekly flight is thought to start early summer 2008.
The 14 year-old airline had a turbulent beginning to its career. Started in 1993, it was formed as a project of the Shaheen Foundation, 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. Initially, the airline flew Tupolev Tu-154 tri-jet aircraft on most of its domestic flights. The design of this workhorse of Russian domestic flights included the ability to operate from gravel or packed earth airfields, ability to fly at high altitudes above most Soviet Union air traffic and good field performance.
In 2004, Shaeen ran into difficulties due to its fall in productivity and its unsuccessful approach to the increasingly competitive airline business. The airline was taken over by TAWA International Inc. of Canada. The new chairman of Shaheen Air, Khalid M. Sehbai made a substantial foreign direct investment in the company with the sole objective to restore the airline’s viability and early success.
Gradual replacement of the Tupolev passenger aircraft with the Boeing 737-200 Advanced was the first major change. Efficiency was improved and subsequent economies on fuel -- oil prices were on the rise - began to revive the airline’s fortunes. The first Boeing operated on Shaeen’s main route of Karachi-Lahore-Karachi.
