Pakistan’s Fly Jinnah granted transport licence

The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has issued start-up Fly Jinnah with a Regular Public Transport (RPT) licence for passenger and cargo flights, a spokesperson for the airline confirmed to ch-aviation.

The NCAA was not immediately available for comment, but aviation services company Tailwind Aviation, which lists Fly Jinnah as a client, confirmed to ch-aviation that the airline would be ready to enter the market in 2023.

The ProPakistani news service reported that the granting of the licence followed approval in May from Pakistan’s Cabinet. The PCAA had also certified that the company had fulfilled all conditions prescribed in the National Aviation Policy of 2019 and relevant rules and regulations for the issuance of the licence.

According to documents viewed by ProPakistani, M/S Fly Jinnah Services (Pvt.) Limited plans to acquire three aircraft, preferably A320 Family, on a dry-lease and will increase its fleet to five aircraft in the second year and to six by the end of the fifth year of operations.

The airline is a project of Lakson Group, a Pakistani conglomerate based in Karachi. The group did not immediately respond to a request from ch-aviation for comment.

The PCAA documents confirmed, the report said, that Fly Jinnah was registered with the Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The two directors listed are Lakson chairperson Iqbal Ali Lakhani and London-based investment manager Shahnawaz Haidar Nawabi, who will also be the chief executive of the airline. He reportedly holds an MBA from Harvard University and serves as a director on the boards of three companies.

The PCAA confirmed that M/S Fly Jinnah Services (Pvt.) Limited had loss-free paid-up capital of PKR350 million rupees (USD2.2 million). Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior has granted necessary security clearances to the company as required under the National Aviation Policy.