Pakistani consortium acquires 75% stake in PIA in main privatization switch
A Pakistani funding firm-led consortium has obtained a 75% stake in Pakistan World Airways
ByThe Linked Press
December 23, 2025, 10:47 AM
ISLAMABAD — A consortium led by a Pakistani funding firm obtained a 75% stake in converse-bustle Pakistan World Airways on Tuesday right by method of a televised public sale, marking a serious step in the authorities’s long-delayed effort to denationalise the loss-making nationwide provider.
The Arif Habib consortium submitted a winning uncover of 135 billion rupees ($482 million) for the bulk shareholding in PIA, which was once once regarded as amongst the converse’s high airways but has suffered a long time of monetary losses and mismanagement.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, talking on the bidding ceremony, acknowledged the privatization job was once clear and competitive. He hoped that the contemporary homeowners would lend a hand revive the airline.
The sale fulfills a long-standing ask by the World Monetary Fund, which has again and again knowledgeable Pakistan to denationalise the airline as half of broader financial reforms tied to bailout functions.
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The public sale comes two months after PIA resumed affirm flights to Europe following a resolution by the European Union Aviation Security Agency to comprehend a four-one year ban imposed over safety concerns. The ban was once launched in 2020, after 97 people like been killed when a PIA airplane crashed in Karachi.
As soon as considered as a model airline, PIA has deteriorated over the years this means that of political interference and power overstaffing. The airline employs about 300 group per airplane right by method of its 32 quick — one in every of the very excellent employee-to-airplane ratios in the enterprise. Most airways operate with fewer than 200 staff per airplane, a total benchmark of productivity.
