PIA: Will Privatisation
Succeed? — February 2026

Pakistan has had to go cap-in-hand to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout 24 times since joining it in 1950; and three times in the past six years (2019, 2023 and 2024) for a total of $11bn. One of the conditions in the 2023 agreement was the privatisation of the country’s flag-carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). After several aborted attempts this was finally achieved in December 2025, the Government selling a 75% stake for ₨135bn (US$482m) in a publicly televised auction in an Islamabad hotel to a consortium headed by the Arif Habib Corporation.

Founded in 1955 following the nationalisation of Orient Airways, PIA was once among Asia’s most innovative carriers. It helped launch several aviation “firsts”, including early jet operations in the region (a B707 leased from PanAm in 1960 and used on a route to London), the first airline to show films on international flights (in 1962 — TWA had pioneered the innovation on domestic US services the year before) and the establishment of training and engineering capabilities that supported other emerging airlines in Asia. It claimed the accolade of being “the second best airline in the world” in the 1960s.