Govt to auction PIA on October 1, amid debt crisis

[ghazi52]

Govt to auction PIA on October 1, amid debt crisis​

Privatization Commission to adjust criteria for potential bidders to ensure a smoother auction process

News
September 21, 2024

The Privatisation Commission Board of Pakistan announced on Friday that the auction for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is set for October 1. This decision follows a meeting focused on assessing the ongoing privatisation process of the country’s national air carrier.

In its statement, the commission indicated that adjustments to the criteria for potential bidders would be made to facilitate a smoother auction process.

The board also noted that six bidders have been pre-qualified for the sale, including Fly Jinnah, a consortium led by YB Holdings, Air Blue Limited, a consortium led by Pak Ethanol, Arif Habib Corporation, and Blue World City.



PIA has been struggling under a massive debt burden of approximately Rs800 billion ($2.9 billion). The government has provided multiple bailout packages in recent years to help cover operational costs.

Initially, the aim was to complete the privatisation by August 14 but the timeline was pushed back due to bidders requesting updated audited accounts, aircraft lease agreements, and information regarding the airline’s suspended flights to Europe, which have been grounded for nearly four years.

This privatisation effort is aligned with recommendations from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has urged the government to sell off all loss-making state-owned enterprises to stabilise the economy.

Additionally, officials have been in discussions regarding the restoration of PIA flights to Europe. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar highlighted this issue as a "major priority" during a recent five-day visit to London.

The suspension of PIA flights followed a tragic 2020 plane crash in Karachi that claimed 97 lives, exacerbated by concerns over pilot licensing, which led to a ban imposed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

 

[Mobius]

PIA is a perfect example of what's happened to the nation as a whole. So much potential early on, only to be burdened by greed, corruption and utter incompetence. Now the airline just like the nation is being sold to the highest bidder. When will we learn?

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Fauji better be careful , flying on foreign plane , plane se hi agwa ker lainge RAW wale

Selling of National Carrier is a big shock to Engineering sector as well

 

[PakFactor]

PIA is a perfect example of what's happened to the nation as a whole. So much potential early on, only to be burdened by greed, corruption and utter incompetence. Now the airline just like the nation is being sold to the highest bidder. When will we learn?

It will not learn as it can't learn. They also don't mention that they raised the salary of those on payroll along with other benefits. The buyer has to honor those conditions for five years after the takeover.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

No institute will survive if there is a mentality of "We are above the Law"

No institute can become successful , if people are , biting the profits , claiming their little bite will not harm the larger existence of the institute

Eventually when Million people start to take short cuts in a institute
then it becomes automatically a failure or inefficient


Pakistan's Police = Busy harassing own citizen , women and children
Pakistan's Qazi = Just read the people's remarks on Social media
Election Commissioner = Said "No" to Supreme Court orders
Pakistan Army = Not allowing own Merit system to prevail

 

[Mobius]

It will not learn as it can't learn. They also don't mention that they raised the salary of those on payroll along with other benefits. The buyer has to honor those conditions for five years after the takeover.

Anyone bidding on this junk of an organisation is a madman.

 

[PakFactor]

Anyone bidding on this junk of an organisation is a madman.

You mean madness.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Most of PIA 777 Boeing fleet is relatively new

Pakistan's Airports and Airline are all relatively new , modernized
the issue has never been with the Planes. But size of the company


Like I said , sit and clap now but tomorrow it will be the Fauji or their family travelling on foreign carriers and you never know who will be operating these carriers or who will be the workers on plane

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

PIA's fix is

Lay off 90% of Workforce <Pink Slip> and only retain Engineering
And minimum workers , who are age group 22 years old
10% workforce

Managed by Experienced Management Panel

 

[PakFactor]

PIA's fix is

Lay off 90% of Workforce <Pink Slip> and only retain Engineering
And minimum workers , who are age group 22 years old
10% workforce

Managed by Experienced Management Panel

You're better off just bankrupting the carrier and being done with it.

 

[DarthVader]

Most of PIA 777 Boeing fleet is relatively new

Pakistan's Airports and Airline are all relatively new , modernized
the issue has never been with the Planes. But size of the company


Like I said , sit and clap now but tomorrow it will be the Fauji or their family travelling on foreign carriers and you never know who will be operating these carriers or who will be the workers on plane

new ? I have not seen a single decent plane in PIA it's been couple of years but most planes were from late 90s to early 2000s
Tried flights from Europe , UK and middle east.
Yes we have seen 2 new airports 1 ISB & Lahore, but in countries even modren bus or train stations are better than than these.
long queues and they will only have 2 maybe 3 immigration officers working on super long queues.
People used PIA as it offered direct flights, which is not the case with EU anymore and mostly other airlines offer better and cheaper services compared to PIA.
From our prospective if airline is punchutual, has half decent services, decent food and it's clean people don't mind all the BS going on side but PIA doesn't do single thing decent.
And now specially the repeated crashes it's hard to suggest this airline anymore

 

[HAIDER]

PIA is a perfect example of what's happened to the nation as a whole. So much potential early on, only to be burdened by greed, corruption and utter incompetence. Now the airline just like the nation is being sold to the highest bidder. When will we learn?

The curse, including top Generals .

Zardari, Nawaz spent Rs3.26bn on 'lavish foreign trips' as president, PM: Shafqat Mehmood​

2019

 

[flameboard]

Emirates and Qatar are great examples of state owned successful airlines. The only downside is mismanagement and corruption. Stop corruption where ever possible otherwise this will happen to everything you hold dear.

 

[FuturePAF]

PIA’s only hope is have a business model like Ryan Air or Fly Dubai, and fly between a few major foreign hubs (where customers would connect from wherever they are coming from) and travel to not just the top three airports in Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad) but to “smaller” Pakistani cities.

But, its seems, will be the problem of the new owners. Finding a business model to win back Pakistani traveled to the erstwhile Pakistani flag carrier.

With the likes of Riyadh based budget airline looking to win market share, this looks set to be an uphill struggle.

 

[Lulldapull]

PIA’s only hope is have a business model like Ryan Air or Fly Dubai, and fly between a few major foreign hubs (where customers would connect from wherever they are coming from) and travel to not just the top three airports in Pakistan (Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad) but to “smaller” Pakistani cities.

But, its seems, will be the problem of the new owners. Finding a business model to win back Pakistani traveled to the erstwhile Pakistani flag carrier.

With the likes of Riyadh based budget airline looking to win market share, this looks set to be an uphill struggle.

Our corrupt establishment has destroyed PIA. Our airline was one the best in the world a generation ago. I used to only look for PIA for flights from the US to Karachi and loved it.

Unfortunately now our airline has been completely destroyed by the jahil chaudhry waderay sardar!