ISLAMABAD – Caretaker Privatization Minister Fawad Hassan Fawad rubbished the rumors that the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was being sold off to a foreign government.
Talking to a private news channel, the minister said such reports were being shared by those having vested interests, admitting that the state lacks fiscal space to operate PIA.
The minister said all the legal formalities had been completed for privatizing the national flag carrier adding that the Privatization Commission was diligently executing the task.
The minister assured that transparency was being ensured in the process of privatization and representatives of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), ministries of education, law, and finance had also been consulted on the matter.
The minister said that only profitable flights were being operated by the government through PIA as the airline was facing governance issues.
The minister also said that the privatization was being carried out under the constitutional amendments promulgated by the previous elected government.
Fawad also confirmed that the federal cabinet would ensure that no employee of the PIA was unjustly deprived of their due rights; he also admitted that the appointment of individuals ill-equipped to manage the aviation industry was also a reason behind the chaos.
It bears mentioning that the calls for privatizing the airline were made during the tenure of the Pakistan Democratic Movement regime as well but the caretaker regime has taken the matter forward and the Privatisation Commission (PC) Board has approved appointments of British multinational, Ernst & Young (EY) as a Financial Advisor for the said purpose.
At this moment, the biggest challenge in privatizing the airline is the settlement of debts and liabilities which have reached billions of rupees. On the other hand, the airline’s spokesperson admitted a few days ago that half of the fleet was operational at the moment.
