Provinces' flying assets differ widely, officials say

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif last week defended her use of a provincial Gulfstream jet for a private London trip, and her claim that all four provincial chief ministers have similar flying facilities is contradicted by accounts from the other provinces, according to a Geo News report.

Addressing a ceremony in Multan on September 17, Maryam Nawaz said the aircraft belonged to the office of the chief minister, not to her personally. "It is not Maryam Nawaz's plane; it is the chief minister's plane," she said. Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari made the same argument two days later, saying every chief minister had an aircraft and the right to use it, and that questioning only Punjab's chief minister was unfair.

But officials in the three other provinces gave The News different descriptions. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has no fixed-wing aircraft. Sahibzada Hassan Ali, press secretary to the KP chief minister, said the province owns a single-engine Eurocopter Écureuil bought in 2010 with a maximum capacity of three passengers and about 700 flight hours. KP Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah separately confirmed the chief minister has no aircraft but can use the provincial helicopter. Hassan said a previous provincial helicopter crashed during flood rescue operations.

Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said his province operates a Learjet 45XR in service since 2012 and capable of carrying seven passengers. It also has an Mi-171 helicopter acquired in 2016, currently grounded and able to carry 14 passengers, and a Cessna Caravan manufactured in 2007 with an eight-passenger capacity. Rind said aviation assets had been transferred to Balochistan Aviation, a company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Sindh government spokesperson Rasheed Channa said the province has a Learjet 45 manufactured in 2006 and two helicopters inducted in 1992; one carries three to four passengers and the other six to seven.

The Punjab aircraft at the centre of the controversy is a Gulfstream G500 previously registered in the United States as N144S. Maryam Nawaz recently said it cost roughly Rs9 billion. Punjab officials initially did not acknowledge the jet had been acquired for the chief minister's use; Bokhari at one point linked it to the proposed Air Punjab commercial airline before ministers later admitted it was being used for official travel. A government official told The News on condition of anonymity that Punjab also has a Hawker 400XP that remains operational.