Pakistan International Airlines' privatisation to be completed by October 1: Senior official

Islamabad: A senior Pakistani official has informed a parliamentary panel that the privatisation of the national flag carrier would be completed by October 1 after missing an earlier deadline.

The News International reported that Privatisation Commission Secretary Usman Akhtar Bajwa said this on Thursday while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Privatisation about the offloading of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

The government agreed in June last year to overhaul loss-making SOEs under a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $3 billion bailout.

The PIA was listed as a priority for privatisation due to its persistent and staggering financial losses, amounting to billions of rupees annually. Hence, the present government initiated the process of floating the PIA for its sell-off.

During the Senate Standing Committee meeting, Secretary Bajwa assured that the date of PIA’s privatisation process would not exceed October 1.

He pointed out that six companies were finalised for the national carrier’s bidding.

“Whoever buys the PIA will have to invest Pakistani Rs 425 billion immediately for its smooth functioning,” he said, with the meeting’s participants noting that the airline’s deficit had reached Pakistani Rs 500 billion.

Earlier, the federal government had granted a two-month extension to the due diligence period for the airline’s privatisation process, now set to conclude by October 1 this year.

In April, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurang­zeb said the process of privatising PIA would be finalised by the end of June or early July but it could not be done.

The PIA was once the leading airline but deteriorated over time and became unprofitable in 2011. Its poor performance required state subsidies to tackle rising debts and remain in the air.

Previous efforts to overhaul or sell it failed due to political hurdles.