Sialkot airport has said Shaheen Air International (Karachi International) owes its PKR140 million rupees (USD1.1 million) for overdue taxes and airport charges, Dawn has reported.
The airport in northern Pakistan also called upon the airline to resume the operations to Sialkot, which have been suspended since July 5, 2018.
Shaheen Air International used to connect the airport with each of Sharjah, Riyadh, Jeddah International, and Muscat. The flights were suspended as a result of Shaheen Air's worsening financial standing and its legal stand-off with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PkCAA) over an alleged tax debt of PKR1.4 billion rupees (USD11.4 million).
The carrier suspended its scheduled flights after the PkCAA raided its headquarters on August 17. At that time, the authorities allowed the airline to operate Hajj charters exclusively to each of Madinah and Jeddah. Since August 19, Shaheen Air has flown exclusively to these two destinations using its sole A330-200. Three other aircraft of the type, as well as two A320-200s, are currently grounded. The last Hajj service was operated on September 5 and since then the airline has again been inactive, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
