CAA bars Shaheen Air’s Dubai flights on Rs1.25 billion default

ISLAMABAD: Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Monday barred private airline Shaheen Air from undertaking an international flight operation to Dubai because of more than one billion rupees of default in payment to the authority.

“Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority cancelled the permission for schedule international flight NL 221/224 of Shaheen Air of Islamabad-Dubai-Islamabad sector with effect from 13 July 2018,” the authority said in a statement.

“Shaheen Air is defaulter of more than Rs1.25 billion of CAA with regard to various charges,” it added. CAA directed the airline to intimate the affected passengers accordingly to avoid any inconvenience. The authority asked the passengers interested to fly to Dubai in referred flight from 13 July to onwards to make any alternative arrangement.

Last month, Shaheen Air International Limited paid Rs910 million in outstanding tax amount after the authorities sealed the airline’s head quarters in Karachi for a brief period. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had locked the head office of the privately-held airline for an hour to recover the outstanding taxes.

Tax officials said the private airline failed to make tax payment for April and May. Airlines operating in Pakistan are bound to collect Rs5,000 in federal excise duty (FED) on an air ticket bought by international passengers and Rs2,500 from domestic passengers. They are required to deposit the taxes into the national kitty within a stipulated time frame.

The airline failed to deposit Rs497 million for April and another amount of Rs480 million for May, a tax official said. The Civil Aviation Authority said 30,327 domestic and 84,290 international passengers travelled through Shaheen Airline in April. Subsequently, the airliner was estimated to collect Rs497.26 million as FED for the month.