Save Our Pak
Islamabad (December 23, 2025): The auction of the national airline, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), was held today as sealed bids submitted by three consortiums were officially opened in public.
The privatization process of PIA moved forward today when sealed envelopes containing bids from three consortiums were opened in the presence of media. The entire process was broadcast live on television channels.
According to official details, the Arif Habib Group submitted the highest bid of Rs115 billion for PIA’s privatization. The Lucky Group offered Rs101.5 billion, while Airblue placed a bid of Rs26.5 billion.
The government has given both Lucky Group and Airblue additional time to improve their bids and surpass the offer made by Arif Habib Group. Earlier, the government had set a reference price of Rs100 billion for PIA’s privatization.
Earlier in the day, Lucky Consortium submitted its bid first, followed by Airblue, while Arif Habib Group submitted its bid last.
The Privatization Commission extended the deadline for opening the bids by one hour. After the extension, the bids were opened publicly at 4:30 PM.
According to the Privatization Commission, 51 to 100 percent shares of PIA will be sold. The successful bidder will also receive five international properties located in Germany, the Netherlands, and India as part of the deal.
Investors participating in the privatization were required to submit Rs2 billion as bid security. After privatization, mandatory financing of Rs80 billion will be required for PIA.
The buyer of PIA will receive sales tax exemption on new aircraft purchases. Officials confirmed that all outstanding liabilities of PIA had been resolved before the bidding process.
After the bidding stage concluded, Privatization Adviser Muhammad Ali said that the first phase of PIA’s privatization process had been completed. He added that the bids would now be forwarded to the PC Board, which will review them against the airline’s reserve price.
He further explained that the reserve price is confidential and known only to the board. After board approval, it will be sent to the cabinet committee for final approval. He described the process as a major milestone, noting that no large-scale privatization had taken place in the past 20 years.
Earlier, a special meeting of the federal cabinet was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during which the cabinet formally approved the decisions made by the Cabinet Committee on Privatization regarding PIA.
Reported by Save Our Pak
