airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
based in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
,
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.
The airline was founded in 1993 and operated a small domestic network of scheduled passenger flights. Due to financial difficulties, the airline completely suspended operations between 2000 and 2012. After a brief re-launch, and the subsequent crash of
Bhoja Air Flight 213
Bhoja Air Flight 213 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight operated by Pakistani airline Bhoja Air from Karachi to Islamabad. On 20 April 2012, the Boeing 737-236A aircraft serving the route crashed in bad weather during its final approach ...
on the day of the re-launch, Bhoja Air lost its operational license and ceased operations for the final time in July 2012.
History
On 7 November 1993, Bhoja Air started operations on domestic routes between
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
,
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
and
Quetta
Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...
with a dry leased
Boeing 737-200
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...
. It was registered in Pakistan, making Bhoja the first private airline in the country to operate a Western manufactured aircraft. Bhoja Air is a privately owned airline of the Bhoja Group of Companies with its head office at Shahrah–e-Liaquat, Karachi and corporate offices at KDA Scheme No 1. In 1996, it signed a deal with the handling agent group
OGDENS
Ogdens is a small hamlet south of Hyde Common near Frogham in the New Forest area of Hampshire, England.
Ogdens is a hamlet in the civil parish of Hyde. It is situated in the valley of Latchmore Brook (or Huckles Brook).Pakistan Aviators and Aviation located at
Allama Iqbal International Airport
Allama Iqbal International Airport ( ur, , ) is the third largest civilian airport by traffic in Pakistan, after Jinnah International Airport, Karachi and Islamabad International Airport. It serves Lahore, capital of Punjab and second-larges ...
, Lahore was purchased, along with a hotel for passenger stop-overs.
On 24 January 1998 Bhoja Air commenced international flights from
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
to
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
where Mr Saleem Ahmad Kashmiri was given charge of the airline operations in the Gulf. Later, Bhoja Air operated flights to the
U.A.E.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
from all major cities of Pakistan. However, due to financial difficulties, Bhoja Air suspended its operations in 2000, although its airline licence issued by CAA – Pakistan remained valid and it maintained a fully functional headquarters office in Karachi and a flight ops and camp office at Karachi Jinnah International.
The airline became active again during late 2011, and on 6 March 2012, they operated their first flight in twelve years.
The airline was sold by its former owner and Chairman Mr. M. Farooq Omar Bhoja to M. Arshad Jalil. Under the new ownership structure, 80% shares of Bhoja Air were owned by its Managing Director M. Arshad Jalil, whilst the rest were owned by his wife Mrs. Naz Jalil, his son Mr. Umar Jalil and three other people including its former owner Mr. M. Farooq Omar Bhoja.
Among the minority sharehlders Mr. M. Farooq Bhoja owned only five percent of the shares, the remaining shares belong to two directors, Mr. Mazhar Hussain and Mr. Zeeshan Kirmani.
However, on 20 April, a Bhoja Air flight from
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
to
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
crashed, killing all 127 passengers and crew aboard and completely destroying the aircraft.
Closure
Following the crash of Flight 213, the airline fully suspended operations for a second time on 22 April, just six weeks after their relaunch. The crash reduced their fleet size from three to two aircraft, thus, Bhoja Air were in breach of Pakistani law, which requires airlines to have at least three aircraft; Bhoja Air had lost one in the crash of Flight 213, a second was grounded, leaving only one operational aircraft. As a result, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suspended the operating license of the airline on 29 May after a grace period, starting from the day of the crash of Flight 213.CAA temporarily orders Bhoja operations suspension /ref>
Bhoja Air was planning to lease another aircraft and resume operations by mid-August with the assistance of an unnamed foreign airline; however, these plans never came to fruition. The airline subsequently sold their remaining two aircraft and was shut down completely with the sale of their last aircraft in July 2012.Bhoja Air ch-aviation-ch /ref> All staff had their contracts terminated.
Destinations
Bhoja Air served the following destinations as of April 2012, when all services were suspended:
;Pakistan
*
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...
-
Benazir Bhutto International Airport
Benazir Bhutto International Airport ( ur, , ) is a defunct airport which formerly served the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area. It was the second-largest airport by air traffic in Pakistan, until 3 May 2018 when it was replaced by the ...
*
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
-
Jinnah International Airport
Jinnah International Airport ( ur, جناح بین الاقوامی ہوائی اڈا) , formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi Civil Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017 ...
(hub)
*
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
-
Allama Iqbal International Airport
Allama Iqbal International Airport ( ur, , ) is the third largest civilian airport by traffic in Pakistan, after Jinnah International Airport, Karachi and Islamabad International Airport. It serves Lahore, capital of Punjab and second-larges ...
*
Multan
Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab.
Multan is one of the List ...
-
Multan International Airport
Multan International Airport is an international airport located 4 km west of Multan, Pakistan. The airport is South Punjab's largest and busiest airport. Multan International Airport offers flights throughout Pakistan, as well as direct ...
*
Faisalabad
Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...
-
Faisalabad International Airport
Faisalabad International Airport is an international airport and standby Pakistan Air Force military base situated on Jhang Road, southwest of the city centre of Faisalabad, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The airport is home to two flyi ...
Bhoja also planned on launching another domestic station in
Sukkur
Sukkur (; ) is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and Hyderabad, and 14th largest ci ...
; however that did not materialise, despite being listed in the airline's website booking menu.
Fleet
The Bhoja Air fleet consisted of the following aircraft at the time of service being suspended in April 2012:
Former fleet
For a short time, Bhoja also operated a
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas.
After ...
through Star Air Aviation to supplement its own fleet after the loss of one 737-200 in a crash.
Two more leased 737-200s were never delivered due to suspension of operations.
Bhoja Air previously operated the
Yakovlev Yak-42
The Yakovlev Yak-42 (russian: Яковлев Як-42; NATO reporting name: "Clobber") is a 100/120-seat three-engined mid-range passenger jet developed in the mid 1970s to replace the technically obsolete Tupolev Tu-134. It was the first airli ...
.
Incidents and accidents
*On 20 April 2012, a Boeing 737-200, operating Flight 213 and carrying 127 people on a flight from Karachi to Islamabad, crashed near
Chaklala
Chaklala is a major suburban town of Rawalpindi in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
It is situated astride the Airport Road, to the east of Grand Trunk Road on the main railway line. The town has its own railway station Chaklala Railway Station w ...
during approach, killing everyone on board. Eyewitness reports say that the aircraft was already on fire on its landing approach before it crashed, perhaps due to a strike of lightning. Initial reports suggest that as the pilots of Flight 213 attempted to land amidst rain and strong winds, the aircraft might have flown into an unexpected
wind shear
Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and/or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere. Atmospheric wind shear is normally described as either vertical or horizontal ...
.Wind shear may have caused the crash /ref> The aircraft was on dry-lease from South African airline Comair, and had been acquired and placed in service by Bhoja Air in February 2012. Minister for InteriorA. Rehman Malik said on 22 April 2012 that Farouk Bhoja, the Chairman of the Airline, had been placed on the
Exit Control List
The Exit Control Lists (ECL; ur, ) is a system of border control maintained by the Government of Pakistan under Exit from Pakistan (Control) Ordinance, 1981. The people on the list are prohibited from leaving Pakistan.
Priorities
1. Exit from P ...