Saudi Arabia refuses private Pak airliner to land

LAHORE: General Authority Civil Aviation Saudi Arabia denied landing to a private Pakistan airline’s passenger aircraft as it entered the Saudi airspace on the pretext of the aircraft being leased from the Jordanian Airline.
On April 9, flight SAI (NL)-711, carrying over 200 passengers, took off at 9pm Pakistan time for Dammam, like it does every week according to the flight schedule. However, on entering the Saudi airspace, the pilot and the Shaheen Airlines authorities were told that the aircraft was not authorised to enter Saudi airspace and will not be allowed to land at any airport in the Kingdom.
The reasons for this denial were technical and operational, said general manager of the private airline Khalid Fareed Lodhi. “We were told by the Saudi Aviation Authority that because the aircraft was on lease from a Jordanian airline, it was not in line with the Saudi National Aviation policy to allow it to even enter Saudi airspace, let alone land there, Lodhi said.
On being asked if the same aircraft had operated on the same flight route vis-à-vis Lahore-Dammam, he said the same aircraft had operated on the same route previously and they were not denied landing or airspace entry. This he said could be a recent policy.
The flight SAI-711 on being denied landing had no choice but to revert to follow emergency protocol of landing at the nearest available airport for refueling. The flight crew of the aircraft landed the aircraft in UAE for refueling after which the passengers were brought back to Lahore.
The passengers were provided accommodation by the airline till the matter was sorted out. The passengers were told that the incident had occurred due to the inability of the airline to strictly follow schedule which resulted in this inconvenience.
The passengers were later flown to their destination, Dammam Friday at two hours late 11.10 pm, originally scheduled for 9pm.
According to a report by Al Arabiya, Saudi media, the Pakistani private flight owned by the Shaheen Corporation, was denied entry for failing to meet the safety standards set by the Saudi government, although the Pakistani carrier had reportedly applied for the necessary documents in advance but their request was rejected. The Boeing 767 is reportedly registered in Jordan and is on lease to Shaheen Air.
The plane’s registration bans it from entering European airspace, Al Arabiya reported. The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said the safety of Saudi airspace remains a top priority and will not allow any violations of protocol or regulations.