Pakistan to privatize loss-making national airline

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Pakistan plans to privatize its loss-making national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines. (PIAa.PSX)the government said on Monday, as the country also seeks subcontract its airport operations in line with an IMF agreement.

The privatization decision was made at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

The committee “after deliberation decided to include Pakistan International Airlines Co. Ltd in the list of active privatization projects of the ongoing privatization program, following an amendment in the law by Parliament,” said a statement from the Ministry of Finance.

The committee also endorsed the hiring of a financial adviser to process the transaction for the Roosevelt Hotel, New York, an asset of PIAInvestment Limited, it added.

pakistan awaits resume PIA flights to Britain in the next three months after services were suspended following a fake pilot scandal.

PIA’s flights to Europe and the UK have been suspended since 2020 after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency revoked the national airline’s authorization to fly to the bloc following the pilot’s license scandal.

The privatization of a state-owned company, PIA, which has racked up hundreds of billions of rupees in losses and arrears, comes after Pakistan agreed fiscal discipline plans with the International Monetary Fund.

Pakistan secured a $3 billion IMF bailout in June.

Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Baranjot Kaur in Bangalore Editing by David Goodman, Mark Potter and Alistair Bell

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