The Pakistan International Airlines is resuming work on “various operations” following a setback in the recent auction, the national flag carrier spokesperson has said.
“We hope that flights on their Western routes will restart within the next few weeks,” Abdullah Hafeez Khan said while appearing on News Insight with Amir Zia which was aired on Aaj News on Thursday.
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.
In May this year, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb clarified that there was no such thing as a “strategic SOE” and vowed to accelerate the privatisation agenda.
The government failed to attract enough bids for the national airline at the bidding ceremony on October 31. The Privatisation Commission attracted only Rs10 billion bid for the national flag carrier against the valuation of Rs85 billion.
Khan added that the airline was setting “ambitious targets” for the coming year and would begin working towards them shortly.
The new privatisation process might take a few months, but emphasised that planning in the airline business spans not weeks or days, but years, he said and reassured that the “PIA is in a better financial position now.”
While sharing an update on the PIA, Khan said that the national carrier consists of three aircraft, with 17 or 18 planes actively in operation. Five additional planes are undergoing short-term maintenance while another four to five require engine repairs, for which tenders have already been issued, he said. “Once these repairs are completed, those aircraft will also return to operational status.”
According to Khan, the airline’s future plans would require all of such aircraft to be fully operational.
In response to a question about staffing, he acknowledged that the PIA was previously overstaffed, but stated that the current number of employees—approximately 7,100 to 7,200—was not “excessive” when considering the airline’s operations. “As new operations commence, there will be a need for additional pilots and cabin crew.”
He revealed that the PIA has not taken any loans since May and believed that with the right measures, “the airline would not need to incur further debt by 2025.”
