SAI aircraft carrying stranded Pakistanis takes off from China

ISLAMABAD: More than 200 Pakistanis, who were stranded in a Chinese city for over a week, heaved a sigh of relief when an aircraft of the Shaheen Air International (SIA) carrying them took off from Guangzhou airport on Monday, ARY News reported.

The aircraft reached Guangzhou this morning to bring back 214 passengers stranded there. It is expected to touch down at Lahore airport by 6:00 pm today.

The issue surfaced when the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suspended the airline’s flight operation over non-payment of its dues of over Rs 1.5 billion.

As a result, the SAI flight which was to carry as many as 300 Pakistanis from the Chinese port city of Guangzhou was cancelled on July 29 and hence they were left stranded.

Some of the passengers had refunded their tickets while others were provided food and lodging.

Taking notice of media reports about the ordeal of the passengers, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had ordered the airline to immediately bring them back.

Afterwards, the CAA gave special permission to the airline to send an aircraft to repatriate the stranded passengers. The CAA engineers inspected the aircraft which was declared faulty and not airworthy.

Later, the faulty part (pipe) of the aircraft was procured from abroad and was installed by engineers after which the plane took off for China.