Pakistan International Airlines will resume its flights to Europe on January 10 with the first flight to Paris, it was announced on Saturday, raising hopes that the government will attract higher bids to privatize the debt-ridden national carrier.
The announcement comes after the European aviation watchdog lifted a 2020 ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) due to safety concerns stemming from the Karachi air crash.
PIA said in a statement that initially there will be two flights a week on Fridays and Saturdays and later flights will be added according to passenger traffic.
PIA officials held a meeting with AGS Airports Glasgow director Christopher Tibbett on Saturday to discuss the resumption of flights to the United Kingdom.
PIA will resume flights to Europe by flying a Boeing 777 to Paris on January 10 and bookings for the same will open a day earlier, airline spokesperson Hafiz Khan said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Khawaja Asif said that the ban on airlines flying to European destinations was the main reason why private parties were not interested in acquiring shares in the airline.
Welcoming the decision of the European Commission and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to lift the suspension on PIA on November 30, Asif said the development would help secure higher prices for the debt-ridden national carrier.
The move to sell PIA and other loss-making state-owned enterprises is part of a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that recently agreed to provide US dollars to Pakistan.
PIA suffered a loss of USD 270 million last year and has debts and liabilities of USD 3 billion.
The government tried unsuccessfully to privatize a 60 percent stake in the debt-ridden airline earlier this year but could only attract a single bid of PKR 10 billion, well below the reserve price sought.
The Privatization Commission rejected it and decided to hold a new tender.
PIA has assets worth around Rs 152 billion including aircraft and routes. But it has about 7,100 employees, including more than 2,400 on daily wages, who have become an obstacle to its privatisation.
Besides incurring losses and billions of rupees in debt, its ship is aging. This year saw several flight cancellations and rescheduling as airlines failed to pay dues to fuel company Pakistan State Oil.