Foreign airlines show interest in a stake in Pakistan's national airline

Several airlines, including Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines, have shown interest in purchasing stakes in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Corporation.

Matters related to the airline's sell-off were discussed during a meeting of the Privatization Commission, which was chaired by Board of Investment Minister Aleem Khan.

The commission, in principle, approved the rejection of PKR 10 billion ($35.7 million) bid given by sole bidder Blue World City Consortium.

It discussed various proposals related to the privatization of PIA.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has also expressed its intention to participate in the privatization of the national airline once again.

According to sources, one option considered is selling PIA to a foreign government on a government-to-government basis.

Another possibility is issuing fresh advertisements for Expressions of Interest (EOI) with the approval of relevant decision-making forums like the Cabinet Committee on Privatization or federal cabinet.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan received only one bid of PKR 10 billion for a 60% stake in PIA, despite shortlisting six bidders, including Airblue Ltd., Arif Habib Corporation Ltd., Air Arabia’s Fly Jinnah, Y.B. Holdings Pvt., Pak Ethanol Pvt., and Blue World City.

The government has set a minimum price of PKR 85 billion for PIA and has agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to privatize PIA by August next year.

Officials stated that Pakistan will update the IMF mission chief on the privatization process and share the plan with the lender during this week.