AOOA Accuses Foreign Airlines of Moving Billions Out of Pakistan

The Aircraft Owners and Operators Association (AOOA) has accused foreign airlines operating in Pakistan of sending between $2 billion and $2.4 billion abroad every year through ticket sales processed via offshore payment gateways. The association made this claim on Thursday.

Letter to Finance Minister

In a letter sent on Wednesday to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, AOOA founder Imran Aslam Khan asked the government to act quickly. He demanded a five-year forensic tax audit of all airlines operating in Pakistan. He also called for restrictions on ticket payments made through foreign payment gateways.

"Billions of dollars in airline ticket revenues are quietly bypassing domestic financial channels — settled through offshore payment gateways and remaining largely invisible to local tax authorities," the letter stated.

Revenue Estimates and Missing Funds

The association said yearly airline ticket sales in Pakistan brought in between $3.2 billion and $3.6 billion. However, only a small part of this money was recorded through local financial channels.

It said Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) made about $750 million, while other domestic carriers together earned $65 million. Officially recorded foreign remittances were between $80 million and $411 million.

"Combined, these documented streams with maximum amount remitted it totals to USD 1.226 billion — leaving an unaccounted gap of $2 to 2.4 billion every year," the letter said.
"Can financial authorities accurately track this missing capital?" the letter asked. It also asked: "Was this revenue processed through foreign payment gateways and retained offshore, bypassing Pakistan's banking system entirely even by the domestic airlines?"

Questions on Tax Compliance

The association also asked whether airlines working in Pakistan had met their legal tax duties. It questioned why even domestic airlines chose foreign payment gateways instead of local banking systems.

AOOA said the estimated yearly ticket revenue of $3.2 billion to $3.6 billion might be low. It pointed to recent market studies suggesting Pakistan's wider flight market earned more than $6 billion each year.

Number of Airlines Operating in Pakistan

The letter said about 40 to 42 scheduled airlines used Pakistan's international and domestic airports. These included four active domestic carriers and around 36 or 37 foreign airlines.

Foreign airlines alone made up nearly two-thirds of Pakistan's international ticket revenue. Top international operators earned hundreds of millions of dollars each from routes to and from the country, the letter added.

"Pakistan cannot afford to let billions of dollars in domestic economic activity vanish into offshore accounts while struggling to stabilise its foreign reserves," the letter stated.

AOOA's Four-Point Plan

The association proposed a four-point plan to fix what it called financial leakages and improve tax compliance in aviation.

  • All ticket sales for trips starting in or ending in Pakistan should be processed only through payment gateways regulated by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
  • Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) tax collection should be built into the payment process. Ticket purchases should go through an FBR collection system placed directly inside Pakistan's payment gateway, with "zero exemptions permitted."
  • Airlines should send verified passenger and sales details for every flight straight to the FBR using an automatic electronic reporting system.
  • The government should hire three top international auditing firms to carry out separate forensic tax audits for the last five years.
"Any identified shortfalls must be recovered immediately to deter future evasion and establish an airtight tax regime," the letter stated.