Did Shaheen Air Risk People’s Lives by Flying A Faulty Aircraft?

Looks like the unfortunate flight PK 661’s crash was not enough of a warning for other airlines, at least according to certain media outlets. A Manchester bound return flight was at the center of a controversy as it reported a faulty engine part.

The plane, anĀ Airbus A-330, was being operated by Shaheen Air. The plane was to fly from Islamabad to Manchester then back again. On January 3rd, the plane flew to Manchester and an engine malfunction was reported by the captain during the flight. Later on, the return flight back to Islamabad was canceled.

The “Faulty” Part

Geo TV reported that they received an image of the engine’s fuel quantity indicator (the faulty part) which wasĀ tied together with wires and chains. Here’s the image:

Image courtesy Geo TV

The plane was grounded when the fault was discovered. It remained grounded for 5 days until January 8th, after that the airplane went on a ferry flight (delivery flights for the express purpose of returning them to a home station) to Lahore.

During the flight, the captain was informed that an engine’s fuel filter had stopped working. He then operated the flight on a single engine until it reached Lahore.

Currently Grounded At Lahore

After landing at Lahore, the plane was grounded again and is currently in Bay 20 of the airport. Geo claims that their sources informed them of metal splinters spread throughout the hangar inĀ which the plane was parked. This meant, according to Geo, that some of the parts were torn from the plane’s engine.

They added that the plane undertook several flights in the same condition as well.

Shaheen Air’s Official Response to the Report

We reached out to Shaheen Air and their response is copied below verbatim.

Shaheen Air completely rejects baseless and false reports which claimed that the airline used flimsy wires and chains to tie together engine components of its Airbus A330 on Shaheen Air flight NL 901. The method used is an official Airbus approved method for the prevention of unwanted movement of fasteners, connectors, unions or parts that turn. The specific images shown, are an application of the Airbus approved wirelocking method in the manufacturerā€™s Approved Maintenance Manual.

The airline is deeply saddened by severe misrepresentation engaged in by a media house without seeking so much as a clarification or verifying from a technical person the correctness of their news before publishing maliciously for immediate notoriety. The airline intends to exercise its legal and other rights in seeking redress against the network including for any losses such false news bring.

The airline regrets such sensationalizing false news which creates a negative and fearful environment for the travelling Pakistani public, the aviation industry of Pakistan and for the perception of Pakistan as a whole.

Shaheen Air also reiterated that it keeps passenger safety as its absolute first priority. The airline maintains a fleet of 24 aircraft currently and has an excellent airworthiness record. The management of Shaheen Air repeated that as the only Pakistani airline that has by the grace of Allah never had a single fatality in 24 years of operations, it makes no compromise on safety.

What To Make of It?

According to the earlier mentioned news report, Geo TV claimed,

While Shaheen Air entirely rejected the claims saying that the picture of engine being shown is not from one of the planes in its fleet. They said it is wrong to link the faulty plane to the airliner.

The response we received from Shaheen Air paints a completely different picture and says that they weren’t even consulted in the first place. The accusation is a serious one and the relevant authorities need to get to the root of the matter immediately.

News source: Geo TV

A techie, gamer, and Senior Editor at ProPakistani.


  • While lack of professionalism is rampant in our electronic media, Geo TV easily takes the cake as the most most unprofessional news channel in Pakistan. Shaheen Air should sue Geo TV for heavy damages.

    • Those who favor Geo have the same view for ARY, Bol, Samaa and Dunya.

      Geo is the only channel? Others have an agenda and have one sided, unverified, full of lies and biased reporting. At least Geo has quoted Shaheen’s view, source of this post is Geo itself.

  • More than anything, I feel this article is controversial. It’s not sticking to one theme.

  • this is how they hold torque value by using lock wires. nothing wrong with it. GEO news is stupid channel, you know who more stupid, their viewers.

  • It’s funny in 2017, some popular blogs like yours posted a story based on Geo news which has not been a authentic channel from last several years!

  • ProPakistani, why waste your time posting a cover story by GEO.??? It would have been much better if same post was based on other media like Reuters. Please never ruin your credibility dudes..!

  • Thankfully Geo did not run song in background while reporting this ..something like:

    “Hawa ke sath sath ghata ke sang sang o sathi chal”

  • what about lack of professionalism and attempt to create sensation by propakistani? this is classical case of just copy pasting news from internet without putting in any thought process to attract visitors, earlier it was diversion of PIA flight to Oman and now this, shameful act.


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