KARACHI, Oct 28: The Civil Aviation Authority has asked Shaheen Airways to pay off its current dues till November 8 to keep its operations continue.

Sources told Dawn that a letter to this effect was issued to the private airline by the air traffic directorate of the CAA on Thursday setting the deadline for the clearance of over Rs30 million dues.

They said the operations of the Shaheen Airways would be suspended if it did not pay off the dues by the deadline.

The said the airline had not paid a single penny to the CAA since July this year. Besides, the officials said, the airline was not complying with the national aviation policy as it had been flying with only one aircraft for the past three months.

They said that according to the aviation policy, an airline must have a fleet of at least three aircraft for operations and these must be registered with the CAA.

The officials said Shaheen Airways had obtained concessions from the Ministry of Defence, which had allowed it to continue its operation without fully complying with the national aviation police till Nov 15.

They said the airline failed to follow its own flight schedule, submitted with the CAA, due to the non-availability of the required number of aircraft.

The officials said Shaheen Airways was also not operating on socio-economic routes, which was a compulsory part of the national aviation policy. “At present, it is operating only on international routes which are comparatively more profitable,” they said.

A spokesman for the airline said that one of the three aircraft was under repair and it would be included in the fleet after a couple of weeks. The second aircraft was on scheduled “C” check and it would be part of the active fleet again by the end of December, he added.

The Shaheen Airways has been allowed to fly to USA and UK as a result of recent modification in the aviation policy by the Ministry of Defence. It is the only private carrier that has been allowed to fly to USA with three weekly flights. However, the airline has yet to start it operation on this sector.

The spokesman said that the airline has finalized market research and the feasibility studies for route expansion and intends to operate to USA and UK by this winter.

According to the spokesman, the Shaheen Airways was also granted permission to extend 13 additional flights to UAE – nine to Oman, six to Kuwait and one to Qatar. He said the airline was meeting around 95 per cent of its flight schedule for international routes.