ISLAMABAD: The bidding for the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is scheduled for today (Thursday), with reports suggesting that only one of the six pre-qualified bidders has submitted the required earnest money to participate in the process.

The Privatisation Comm­is­sion had initially pre-qualified six bidders, including Fly Jinnah, a consortium led by YB Hol­dings (Pvt) Ltd, Airblue Ltd, a consortium led by Pak Ethanol (Pvt) Ltd, Arif Habib Corporation Ltd, and Blue World City.

After extensive review, the board of the Privat­isat­ion Commission shortlisted these companies based on technical, financial and documentary requ­i­­reme­nts, inviting them to proceed with the next stage of the bidding process to start buy-side due diligence.

The successful bidder will be eligible to acquire between 51pc and 100pc of PIA’s share capital, along with management control.

PIA, a public limited company and natio­nal flag carrier, is largely government-owned, with the government holding about 96pc of its issued capital. Privatisation Secre­tary Usman Akhtar Bajwa was unavailable to confirm the exact number of bidders participating in the process.

As a full-service airline, PIA operates in various business segments, including passenger services, ground handling, flight training, cargo, engineering and in-flight catering.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2024