The Privatization Commission, under the chair of caretaker Privatization Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad, on Tuesday agreed to a clear timeline for privatization of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in line with targets set by interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar.
According to a statement issued by the Privatization Commission, the meeting discussed the restructuring of PIA, with an aim to proceed to privatization of the national flag carrier. Adviser to the P.M. on Aviation, along with key members of his team, and PIA’s senior management and legal/financial consultants also attended the meeting.
The brief statement, however, did not shed any light on the timeline envisaged by the meeting’s participants.
On Sept. 6, the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) decided to form a technical committee to resolve all issues related to the privatization and restructuring of PIA. It also asked the Aviation Division to work with the Privatization Commission to devise and submit a detailed action plan with a clear timeline to achieve it.
Earlier this month, PIA submitted a report to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet, informing it that five of its 13 leased aircraft had been grounded due to paucity of funds. It warned that an additional four planes could be grounded as soon as Sept. 15 if it were not provided an emergency bailout of Rs. 22.9 billion. This plea was rejected by the ECC.
The ECC further rejected a request for deferment of payments of Rs. 1.3 billion per month to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Rs. 0.7 billion per month to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for embarking charges. The report warned that if it were not granted urgent funding, Boeing and Airbus might suspend their supply of spare parts by mid-September. To avert the financial crunch, PIA recently negotiated fresh credit facilities from financial institutions under the government of Pakistan guarantee limit.