“Maryam said that we should buy PIA and name it ‘Air Punjab’ after making it the best airline,” Nawaz told reporters in New York on Saturday.

This comes a day after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government expressed its desire to purchase the PIA through a bid exceeding Rs10 billion.

In a letter to the privatisation ministry on Friday, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment stated their interest in participating in the privatisation process of the PIA.

The Privatisation Commission decided on Thursday to again conduct the bidding process for the PIA after attracting only a Rs10 billion bid for the national flag carrier against the valuation of Rs85 billion from a single bidder, Blue World City Consortium.

Cash-strapped Pakistan is looking to offload a 51-100% stake in debt-ridden PIA to raise funds and reform bleeding state-owned enterprises as envisaged under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund programme.

Initially, the commission had deemed six bidders eligible, allowing them to participate in the bidding for the loss-making national carrier. But five of such bidders have opted out of the process.

While speaking to the Pakistani community in New York, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif stated that Maryam Nawaz wishes to buy the national flag carrier.

Nawaz mentioned that he advised Maryam that she could start a new airline that would serve destinations all over the world. “I believe discussions have taken place regarding this matter.”

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The PML-N president has expressed deep sadness over the decline of PIA, noting that he arrived in the US after changing flights. He mentioned that Maryam is contemplating the PIA’s purchase or the establishment of a new airline.

Nawaz accused the PTI of damaging the PIA during its time in power, recalling a statement made by one of their ministers in the assembly, claiming that the “educational qualifications of their pilots were insufficient.”

He added: “There are those among us who have ruined PIA. The person who raised concerns about licences is now hiding. Even if the pilots did not have licenses, was that an acceptable comment to make?”