Business Desk 
Feb 26, 2025
PIA passenger plane sitting on tarmac at the Islamabad International Airport, Islamabad, Pakistan October 27, 2024. — Reuters
In the latest attempt to privatise the profitless Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), it has emerged that the government will begin inviting expressions of interest (EoIs) in early March.
The development comes as a fresh move following an earlier, botched attempt to transfer the ownership of the national flag carrier to private entities before the fiscal year ends, The News noted, citing an official from the Privatisation Commission.
Previous efforts to sell off the PIA fell short of attracting potential buyers for various reasons, especially investor concerns, which now have been addressed.
The redressal for earlier shortcomings came as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the waiver of the 18% general sales tax for new aircraft acquisitions and allowed the government to absolve the airline's Rs45 billion negative equity.
Reflecting on the progress of PIA privatisation in a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Privatisation, headed by MNA Farooq Sattar, Secretary Usman Bajwa outlined that $4.3 million of the $6.8 million advisory fee to Ernst & Young has been paid, and the remaining $2.5m is slated to be paid after PIA's successful privatisation.
