CAA issues licence to another airline KARACHI: (The Daily Times) 11/23/03

CAA issues licence to another airline KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted an airline licence to Airblue Ltd to start domestic airline services in the country.

The company had applied for an Airline Licence to the CAA earlier this year.

The company has been structured as a public limited company and its sponsors are overseas Pakistanis. The project envisages an initial investment of over Rs 500 million. The airline plans to start operations with three new-generation aircraft operating between Karachi and other major cities in Pakistan in early 2004. The aircraft will be in a 2 class configuration offering Business class and Economy class service.

The company will start operations with Pakistani engineering staff trained according to international standards. Tariq Chaudhary is the chairman and chief executive officer of the company.

The company will have its operations based in Karachi with corporate offices in both Karachi and Islamabad. At present, the domestic aviation sector in Pakistan is dominated by PIA with over 75 percent of the market share, while two private airlines, Aero Asia and Shaheen also operate domestic flights. —APP