1 week Ago
PIA Holding Co., the national airline of Pakistan, is set to report its first annual profit in more than two decades ahead of plans to sell the national carrier, according to documents seen by Bloomberg. The airline achieved earning per share of 5.
01 rupees in year ended December, marking its first profitable year since 2003, according to audited financial statements seen by Bloomberg. The result will be submitted to the airline’s board for approval before its released publicly. PIA did not respond to a request for a comment.
The results mark a turnaround for the airline whose financial losses has seen its aircraft being impounded at foreign airports, flights canceled, and the carrier running close to a default in recent years. The airline has only been able to survive because of regular bailouts from the government that have now run out. Pakistan tried and failed to sell its airline last year after the initial bid fell short of the minimum price of about $306 million.
The government is making another push, with initial bids due this month. For the sale of the airline, Pakistan carved out about 3/4 of the airline’s debt to government books to make the sale more attractive. It has now removed all the debt, and the companies that participated earlier have shown renewed interest, Usman Bajwa, the secretary at the privatization commission, said in February.
Operational gains had previously been eroded by the substantial debt servicing burden from the mounting losses. PIA has been striving for operational profitability for the past three years by implementing reforms that include reducing its workforce by almost 30%, closing of unprofitable routes and improved fleet utilization..
