Saudi investor pulls the plug, Shaheen Air on verge of closure

KARACHI: In a major setback for Shaheen Air International (SAI), the Saudi prince who had expressed willingness to invest in the airline pulled out from the deal to bail it out.

According to a report in Express Tribune, SAI’s Chief Marketing Officer Zohaib Hassan told that the airline hasn’t announced any precise closure, however, its offices had been shut for the last two weeks.

He added, they were waiting for resumption of work.

The Saudi investor withdrew from the deal after becoming aware of the legal troubles surrounding SAI, told an employee who declined to be named.

The employee went on to share when it comes to knowledge, that offices of a business you are investing have been sealed by the authorities means they aren’t happy and wouldn’t want to mess with them.

SAI’s fortunes tumbled in April this year when it defaulted on payments of taxes and fee to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to the tune of Rs1.3 billion.

Moreover, SAI payables include billions of rupees to catering services, ground handling companies, fuel suppliers, banks and lessors’ entities which give aircraft on lease and hotels.

Also, SAI’s operating licence and fitness certificates for its aircraft have lapsed, due to which its operations closed.

The lessor Aercap Ireland has with the help of the Irish embassy taken back SAI’s eight aircraft.