Federal Minister Abdul Aleem Khan stated that the Privatisation Commission supports provincial governments wanting to purchase Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). He made this announcement during a media talk in Lahore, emphasizing that PIA is a national asset, and any provincial government interested in buying it must meet the minimum price set by the Commission.
Interest has been shown by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab after the Blue World City consortium, the only group that submitted a bid, refused to meet the expected price of Rs85.03 billion and offered Rs10 billion for a 60% stake instead. Initially, six groups had been shortlisted for bidding, including Airblue Ltd. and Air Arabia’s Fly Jinnah, but only one expressed real interest.
The Privatisation Commission now must decide whether to accept Blue World City as the highest bidder or to cancel the bidding process. Aleem Khan stressed that PIA cannot be sold for a low price and that the federal cabinet may need to reconsider the privatization framework.
He reported that when he took office in March, PIA was facing a loss of Rs830 billion, which has now been reduced to about Rs200 billion due to the creation of a new parent company owned by the government. He clarified that his role is to oversee the sale of PIA, not to improve its operations, but he believes it can become profitable with proper management.
Khan reaffirmed the commitment to privatizing PIA effectively and mentioned that there are options to eliminate the remaining liabilities, potentially offering a “clean PIA” for sale. He apologized for his absence at the bid opening ceremony due to an official trip to Riyadh.
