“We have the largest non-scheduled operations network in the country which can be gauged by the revenue we have given to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in last six months”, said Airspeed Charter (AC) Chief Executive Officer Naveed Aslam in an interview to Pakistan Today.
Aslam said that the CA has paid more than Rs14 million rupees in revenue to the authority in the last six months while carrying out operations in the capacity of non-scheduled operators on Open Shy Policy with six aircrafts. He added that he expects support from the authority to address the company’s issues. He said that the extensive network of AC is helping industries generate revenue and it was all in the best interest of the country.
Aslam said that it is not that AC is not just involved in business but also tries to help the country in any way possible. For example, he added, the company offered the government four of its aircrafts during the floods last year. He stated that apart from that he was committed to providing the best service to Pakistan. Talking about Pakistan’s potential in the aviation sector, he said that large revenues can be generated in this sector because of the geographical position of the country and the country needs to tap into this potential.
The country has two very important and strategic airports namely; Lahore and Karachi and through them we can cater to the aviation needs of the region, especially Central Asian Countries, he added. He also noted that the country sees a lot passenger traffic to destinations across the world including Umrah and Hajj flights, consequently the country has a lot of potential in the aviation sector.
On the other hand, he added, that the railway sector was on the verge of being shut down and the road transport was not doing any better wither which makes air travel even more significant. When asked about his future plans he said that he was planning to start a chopper service for executives of multinational exploration and production companies to their sites across the country.
He said that the service would be available for areas like Bhit gas field (Sindh), Khahkzeli, Kadanwari gas field (Sindh), Sui gas field (Balochistan), and Sandak (Balochistan) for production companies working in Pakistan that include British Petroleum (BP), an Italian multinational oil and gas company ENI, and BHP Billiton. He explained that initially there would be only one chopper but later we would add more as this is a much needed service.
This chopper accommodates 4 to 6 passengers and this service would add to the services the other airlines are providing to the said destinations including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), he added. To a question he said that the country has space for one more scheduled airline due to increasing air traffic and breakdown of railways network. More and more people prefer to travel by air, he added.
Talking about the role of country’s aviation authority in facilitating airline industry, he said that it is an important factor and CAA should focus on creating a conducive environment for airlines and passengers even though the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is there.
He emphasized that a friendly environment should be created to fetch foreign investment and this should be done by the country’s aviation authority. He substantiated by adding that in this regard some foreign airlines facilitate Europe bound traffic from Pakistan which should actually be facilitated by our national airline PIA. Commenting on an Open Sky Policy he said that it would benefit Pakistani passengers as foreign airlines operating under the policy would offer discounted rates.
