At least six airlines have applied to the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority (PkCAA) for regular public transport (RPT) licences of which half expect to start scheduled commercial operations later this year.

The Nation newspaper lists the entrants as Liberty Air (Pakistan), GoGreen Airways, Askari Aviation, United Airways Pakistan, AirSial, and Afeef Zara Airways.

Liberty Air is owned by Ch Munir and Mian Amir while Elahi Group, Danish Elahi and Arshad Jalil control Go Green Airways. Askari Aviation currently operates passenger charters for relief agencies and is owned by the Pakistani Army Welfare Trust. For its part, Air Sial is an initiative of the Sialkot Chambers of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) looking to serve the Middle East, including Jeddah International, Dubai, and Doha Hamad International initially before venturing abroad to Europe and North America by Year Five of its business plan.

For its part, United Airways Pakistan is owned by Adnan Tabbni while Afeef Zara Airways is owned by Rashid Siddiqui.

Separately, a sibling of Air Indus (MPK, Karachi International) chief executive, Abdul Wahab, has applied for a charter license for a start-up named Fly Mashriq (Karachi International).

According to the report, of these airlines, Air Sial, Askari Air Pakistan, Go Green Airways, Afeef Zara Airways, and the resurrected Bhoja Air (Karachi International), are likely to launch air operations either during the first half of 2018 or not later than October.