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Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
Who owns and runs Bhoja Air?
April 20, 2012
By Farrukh Siddiqui
The crash of Bhoja Airlines is a horrible tragedy. The Bhoja Air Boeing 737 carrying at least 121 people was on its first flight from Karachi to Islamabad. The Bhoja airliner was flying from the southern seaport city of Karachi and crashed just before touching down, officials said. The crash site was about five aeronautical miles from the airport in Islamabad, authorities said. The flight had lasted roughly 3 hours.
Some TV channels have crossed all limits of crass and insensitivity in their coverage of the accident. Pakistan’s Oscar-winning film producer Sharmeen Chinoy tweeted:
“Showing dead bodies is NOT news or JOURNALISM- news orgs need sensitivity training & humanity #Pakistan.”
Former editor of DAWN Abbas Nasir expressed his disgust over the TV coverage in his tweet:
“TV channels racing each other in2 the gutter. Show sum respect 4 Bhoja Air crash victims, their loved ones. Please.”
The authorities will make the usual announcement, condolences, promise of compensation, and to “investigate”.
But what is Bhoja Air? Who is behind it?
We were a bit troubled by the fact that this was the maiden flight of Bhoja Air as a commercial airliner. A Wikipedia entry notes that Bhoja Air is an airline based in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It operates a small domestic scheduled network. It ceased operations in 2000 due to financial difficulties and succumbed to numerous debts and was re-launched in 2011. Bhoja Air is a privately owned by the Bhoja Group of Companies with its head office at Shahrah–e-Liaquat, Karachi and corporate Offices at KDA society.
An AFP report also says that Bhoja had been grounded in 2000 by the Civil Aviation Authorities amid financial difficulties. As we started looking around to find more details about the airline, we across this news item under the lead, “Failed Pakistani airline told to vacate airport office”, published in the United Arab Emirates’ daily Gulf News on January 21, 2001.
Bhoja Air, a private Pakistani airline, has been ordered to vacate its office at Dubai International Airport because of non-payment of dues.
By Ashfaq Ahmed
Published: 00:00 January 22, 2001
Bhoja Air, a private Pakistani airline, has been ordered to vacate its office at Dubai International Airport because of non-payment of dues. The notice was served by the Directorate of Finance of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) asking the airline “to vacate the present office with immediate effect and also arrange to pay outstanding dues of Dh34,644 to the DCA.”
The letter reads: “We regret to note that you have failed to settle outstanding dues in spite of your repeated assurance. In view of the past experience of delaying payment of our invoices and you have not given any bank guarantee as promised, we have decided not to renew tenancy contracts of the office for the year 2001.” Sources said that Bhoja Air was forced to suspend flights from Dubai on October 25 due to a financial crisis.
”The airline was in heavy debt as it had defaulted on payment of more than Dh150,000 to the DCA for aircraft landing and parking fees when it terminated its operation,” sources said. The airline has since paid most of its debt but not all. The airline also simultaneously stopped operating on the domestic sector in Pakistan as it also owed a large amount to the Civil Aviation Authority there.
According to travel agency sources, the airline has yet to settle dues of many customers and travel agencies for air tickets issued to passengers but not refunded. At the time it suspended operation from Dubai, Bhoja Air was operating three flights a week to Karachi, two to Lahore and two to Islamabad connecting with Peshawar. Bhoja Air started its flight operation from Dubai on January 24, 1998, with only two flights per week from Dubai to Multan via Karachi, but it soon became famous among the community members because of its lowest fares.
The first question is: are the current owners the same people who were behind the failure of Bhoja Air in 2001? Who are they? How come they were able to get permission to run commercial flights with just five aircraft and such a bad track record? The defence minister and the Civil Aviation Authority need to answer some key questions:
There are a lot of rumours but we would not like to speculate. But based on some off the record interviews with people connected with the airline industry, who wish to remain anonymous, it appears that a group of people with extremely dubious backgrounds, with strong political connections, were allowed to set up this airline in November 1993. It went bust in 2000 and was again allowed to resume operations last year.
Mr. Defence Minister, people need answers to some critical questions and quickly!
April 20, 2012
By Farrukh Siddiqui
Some TV channels have crossed all limits of crass and insensitivity in their coverage of the accident. Pakistan’s Oscar-winning film producer Sharmeen Chinoy tweeted:
“Showing dead bodies is NOT news or JOURNALISM- news orgs need sensitivity training & humanity #Pakistan.”
Former editor of DAWN Abbas Nasir expressed his disgust over the TV coverage in his tweet:
“TV channels racing each other in2 the gutter. Show sum respect 4 Bhoja Air crash victims, their loved ones. Please.”
The authorities will make the usual announcement, condolences, promise of compensation, and to “investigate”.
But what is Bhoja Air? Who is behind it?
We were a bit troubled by the fact that this was the maiden flight of Bhoja Air as a commercial airliner. A Wikipedia entry notes that Bhoja Air is an airline based in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It operates a small domestic scheduled network. It ceased operations in 2000 due to financial difficulties and succumbed to numerous debts and was re-launched in 2011. Bhoja Air is a privately owned by the Bhoja Group of Companies with its head office at Shahrah–e-Liaquat, Karachi and corporate Offices at KDA society.
An AFP report also says that Bhoja had been grounded in 2000 by the Civil Aviation Authorities amid financial difficulties. As we started looking around to find more details about the airline, we across this news item under the lead, “Failed Pakistani airline told to vacate airport office”, published in the United Arab Emirates’ daily Gulf News on January 21, 2001.
Bhoja Air, a private Pakistani airline, has been ordered to vacate its office at Dubai International Airport because of non-payment of dues.
By Ashfaq Ahmed
Published: 00:00 January 22, 2001
Bhoja Air, a private Pakistani airline, has been ordered to vacate its office at Dubai International Airport because of non-payment of dues. The notice was served by the Directorate of Finance of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) asking the airline “to vacate the present office with immediate effect and also arrange to pay outstanding dues of Dh34,644 to the DCA.”
The letter reads: “We regret to note that you have failed to settle outstanding dues in spite of your repeated assurance. In view of the past experience of delaying payment of our invoices and you have not given any bank guarantee as promised, we have decided not to renew tenancy contracts of the office for the year 2001.” Sources said that Bhoja Air was forced to suspend flights from Dubai on October 25 due to a financial crisis.
”The airline was in heavy debt as it had defaulted on payment of more than Dh150,000 to the DCA for aircraft landing and parking fees when it terminated its operation,” sources said. The airline has since paid most of its debt but not all. The airline also simultaneously stopped operating on the domestic sector in Pakistan as it also owed a large amount to the Civil Aviation Authority there.
According to travel agency sources, the airline has yet to settle dues of many customers and travel agencies for air tickets issued to passengers but not refunded. At the time it suspended operation from Dubai, Bhoja Air was operating three flights a week to Karachi, two to Lahore and two to Islamabad connecting with Peshawar. Bhoja Air started its flight operation from Dubai on January 24, 1998, with only two flights per week from Dubai to Multan via Karachi, but it soon became famous among the community members because of its lowest fares.
The first question is: are the current owners the same people who were behind the failure of Bhoja Air in 2001? Who are they? How come they were able to get permission to run commercial flights with just five aircraft and such a bad track record? The defence minister and the Civil Aviation Authority need to answer some key questions:
- Who owns Bhoja Air?
- When it was given permission to fly commercial flights and by which authority?
- What is the approval process for such a permission to be granted?
There are a lot of rumours but we would not like to speculate. But based on some off the record interviews with people connected with the airline industry, who wish to remain anonymous, it appears that a group of people with extremely dubious backgrounds, with strong political connections, were allowed to set up this airline in November 1993. It went bust in 2000 and was again allowed to resume operations last year.
Mr. Defence Minister, people need answers to some critical questions and quickly!
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