Pak: Four companies qualify for PIA privatisation

Karachi, Nov 29 (PTI) Four Pakistani companies have qualified to participate in the privatisation process of the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

The bidding process by the privatisation

commission was scheduled for the first week of December earlier and has now been delayed to the last week of the month.

According to details, Fauji Fertilizer, Habib Rafique, Younus Brothers, and Airblue have shown interest in bidding for a majority share in the privatisation process of the national airline.

The successful bidder will have to make an initial investment of PKR 30 to 40 billion in the airline. The PIA’s domestic and international properties are excluded from the privatisation and have been transferred to the PIA Holdings Company.  The airline’s branding and name will also not be changed after the privatisation process is completed.

The privatisation will cover only the airline’s four main offices in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi.

The government’s privatisation commission is seeking additional investment in the airlines and for the growth of its fleet from 18 to 38 operational aircraft over four years.

PIA has earned a pre-tax profit of over PKR 11.5 billion in the first six months of the current financial year, operating with only 14 to 16 aircraft on domestic and international routes. Last year, the airline earned PKR 26.2 billion in profit.

The heavy financial backlogs the airline has accumulated over the years due to overstaffing and poor administration led to operational issues, forcing the government to move to privatise the airline.

The airline recently made some positive gains when it was allowed to resume flights to the United Kingdom and Canada, and is operating direct flights to these destinations, which have a huge expatriate community of Pakistanis.

The government tried to privatise the airlines last year but only got a single bid of PKR 10 billion from one party for a 60 per cent stake, well before the reserve price of PKR 85 billion.

The Privatisation Commission reopened the process in April 2025, inviting expressions of interest for a 51 to 100 per cent stake from both local and international investors. PTI CORR GRS GRS GRS