ABU DHABI, March 3 (Reuters) - Pakistan's privately owned Shaheen Air plans to buy seven used and two new Boeing (
BA.N) aircraft and start flights to India and Iran, its executive director said on Tuesday.
"We have almost completed the process of acquiring seven Boeing 737-200 aircraft from an airline in South Africa," Khalid Bashir Anjum told Reuters on the sidelines of an aviation conference in the United Arab Emirates. He did not give details.
"We will also be acquiring two new Boeing 737-900 ERs by end-2010. The new aircraft will enable Shaheen to start new routes to Mumbai and Mashhad in Iran," he said, adding that Shaheen would also increase flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Muscat.
The airline, which has a fleet of seven Boeing 737s, flies to six destinations in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.
Shaheen stopped flights to Leeds in Britain last year after fuel prices peaked, he said.
"But we are seriously thinking about resuming flights to the UK, to some secondary airport, and to Canada provided fuel prices remain stable and not too high" said Anjum, adding that the airline may lease a few Boeing 777 ERs for the flights.
The airline, which also operates on domestic routes in Pakistan, carried 1 million passengers in 2008, up 22 percent over 2007, he said. (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by David Holmes)