Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar on Thursday directed Minister for Privatization Fawad Hasan Fawad to oversee the process of privatization of Pakistan International Airlines and complete it on a fast-track basis.
Chairing a meeting on matters related to PIA, the prime minister said process needed to be expedited urgently so as to provide a reliable service to the users and to raise the standards of the national flag carrier to match the global airline standards.
He directed all the relevant stakeholders to find an immediate solution to the matters related to the privatization.
During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed on the progress of the privatization process of PIA. He also welcomed the new caretaker privatization minister Fawad Hasan Fawad to his team.
Meanwhile, the government on Thursday failed to release funds for the PIA despite its guarantee that it will.
Sources said that on the other hand, different banks which last week had promised with the PIA to provide it Rs14 billion in loans, were yet to release the amount since the latter had not given the deadline for their return. Already, they said, the airline owed Rs260 billion to lenders.
Moreover, they revealed, the airline urgently required Rs23 billion so that it could sustain its flight operation. They disclosed that paucity of funds had even affected PIA’s domestic flight operation.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan International Airlines has “temporarily” grounded some of its planes, the airlines’ spokesperson confirmed on Thursday.
He, however, claimed that the airline would be back in the air once payments were made.
