Air Karachi the 5th Private Airline of Pakistan

Air Karachi will be the 5th private airline of Pakistan with the hub station at Karachi Airport. The airline has adopted the same investment model as AirSial, which has been successfully operating for the last 5 years with the backing support from the capitalists of Sialkot. The prominent business leaders of Karachi also back Air Karachi, and with an initial investment of Rs 5 billion, each shareholder contributes Rs 50 million. In Pakistan, the currently operating private airlines are:

• AirBlue
• Serene Air
• AirSial
• Fly Jinnah

Air Karachi License

Air Karachi received its Regular Public Transport License (RPT) from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), as confirmed by Hanif Gohar (Stakeholder) on June 5, 2025. According to the National Aviation Policy for the Regular Public Transport (RPT) license, the airline has to deposit a Rs 500,000 ($1,750) license issuance fee and an initial cash security deposit of Rs 100 million ($350,000). Moreover, it is required to raise its paid-up capital from Rs 300 million to Rs 600 million ($2.1 million) before issuance of the license.

Conditions for RPT License

• Minimum of three airworthy aircraft for domestic operations.
• Minimum of five airworthy aircraft for international operations.
• If the quantity of airworthy aircraft is reduced due to an incident or accident, only the operator has to replace it within 4 months.
• The airline shall be required to serve a minimum of two primary routes.
• RPT operators shall include a minimum af 10% of their annual pilot intake from CPL holders of domestic Flying Schools.

For International Operations

Operations on international routes shall be allowed after one (1) year of continued satisfactory operations on domestic routes as per the following conditions:

1. Flight Punctuality above 80%.
2. Flight Regularity above 90%.
3. Operations on Secondary Routes.
4. No outstanding PCAA due.
5. No outstanding complaints of more than 30 days on account of air passenger rights

Fleet and Routes of Air Karachi

To start the domestic operations, the airline must have a minimum of three aircraft, for which Air Karachi is struggling to buy on lease. On the RPT License, that aircraft age should be 18 years or low with 50% minimum operating life, and the maximum operation and retirement age is 22 years.

The airline plans to make operations at the major cities that including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta, and Sukkar. For the international operation, the airline must complete its one-year operations at domestic routes and have a minimum of five aircraft. Air Karachi will properly expand its international routes to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Muscat, UAE, and then further sectors.

Departure Control System (DCS) Air Karachi

The airline has recently partnered with Intelisys Aviation, which will provide a passenger service system. Air Karachi will have InteliSys’s AmeliaRES platform, a cloud-based PSS for its flight operations that includes check-in, boarding, passenger manifest, etc.

Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO)

Air Karachi has signed its partnership with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for the MRO services. This collaboration will ensure that Air Karachi’s fleet will be maintained to the highest standards of safety, reliability, and efficiency by the experienced and talented team of PIA. The official signing ceremony took place on 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟏𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓, in Karachi, between 𝐌𝐮𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐡𝐚𝐫, Chairman of Air Karachi, and 𝐀𝐕𝐌 𝐀𝐦𝐢𝐫 𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐭, CEO of PIA, in presence of CEO Air Karachi 𝐀𝐕𝐌 (𝐑) 𝐈𝐦𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐢𝐝.