News & Updates

NEW DELHI: Pakistan plans to split ailing national flag carrier PIA into two companies and sell control of the core business to a global airline over the next 18 months, but political opposition to the sell-off will be intense, the country´s privatisation czar said. Financial advisers are now in talks with several airlines about taking over cash-strapped Pakistan International Airlines, which has some 17,000 employees but just 36 aircraft – and 10 of them are grounded due to a lack of spare parts. Mohammad Zubair told Reuters in an interview during a visit to New Delhi on Wednesday that no decision had been taken on the buyer, but he mentioned Emirates Airline, Etihad and Qatar Airways – the Gulf giants that dominate the regional sector – as possibilities. “It’s going to be the most difficult sale,” said Zubair, who is aiming to raise around $4 billion this fiscal year from the sale of stakes in several companies, anticipating demands that the government hold onto PIA and ...