Islamabad : After many if and buts, the auction of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been set for October 31.
Sources said All six shortlisted bidders have completed the procedure and fulfilled auction conditions and this is being followed by rescheduling of PIA bidding on October 31. The shortlisted bidders included Fly Jinnah , Air Blue , Arif Habib Corporation (Pvt) Limited , Sardar Ashraf D Baloch , Shanxi CIG Co (Ltd) China , Gerry’s International (Pvt) Ltd , Consortium led by Y.B Holding (Pvt) Limited , Consortium led by Blue World City.
Sources told this scribe that the Privatisation Commission has shared the bidding procedure with the interested parties and invited the shortlisted bidders for PIA acquiring on the fixed date. “PIA will be offered for sale in open bidding and the response of bidders will be evaluated to decide the percentage of the shares to be offered for bidding”, sources added.
PIA ‘s sell-off is not a big attraction for the potential buyers for a number of reasons like there is no clarity on the fate of thousands of PIA regular employees. The bidders are also not clear how PIA’s liabilities will be paid off . PIA liabilities stand at Rs 76 billion (Tax liabilities and in terms of provident funds of the employees).
The bidders will also like to get an announcement from the government on the future of regular employees before offering bids for this transaction. The condition of not selling of PIA shares to any new buyer for 10- year period is also one of the factors irritating to the potential bidders of PIA. “We will seek a statement from the Privation Commission on unresolved issues prior to start of the bidding process on October 31”, said a representative of one of the shortlisted bidders.
PIA was once a big name in aviation industry. Its service was unique and it was a profit-making airline also. However , like all other entities , mismanagement and corruption ripped through it. The burden of unbearable number of employees whose majority was hired on political considerations ruined this prestigious national flag carrier.
PIA ,which was a role model for many new lines like Emirates, finally collapsed . With huge surplus staff , PIA is now a loss making entity.
Finally it landed on the sell – off programme of the government in February last to avoid more loss to national kitty.