ISLAMABAD: The government is retreating from its own publicly stated payment timeline for the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines as the winning consortium has yet to deposit the expected 83 billion rupees ($298 million), raising fresh questions about transparency in a sale tied to the country’s IMF bailout program. The Privatisation Commission had declared at the Dec 23, 2025 bidding that of 135-billion-rupee winning bid, 7.5pc (Rs10.125bn) will go to national exchequer, while of remaining Rs125 billion, two-thirds would be paid by the consortium within 90 to 120 days and the remaining one-third in a year. This window pointed squarely to late April as a key milestone. Four months on, no major payment has materialised.
The commission’s Chairman, Muhammad Ali, when contacted, said, “There was no such deadline of April 28,” adding that “financial close is expected during next month.” The Arif Habib-led consortium, which won the bid, did not respond to requests for comment.
Ali pushed back against reports of a stalled deal. “There is no truth to the reports of any delay in takeover,” he told The News, insisting the “consortium will take over when financial close happens, expected next month.” The buyers “have not applied for any force majeure or extension to defer any payment,” he said while responding to a question, as there are market speculation of a possible July deferral. The chairman attributed the lag to unfulfilled conditions precedent (CPs), approvals still pending from international aircraft lessors, regulators and competition commissions which, he said “are under process and will be complete in the next month.”
On the government’s remaining 25pc stake, Ali said the consortium “has filed its intent and submitted SBLC [Standby Letter of Credit],” referring to a standby letter of credit, with the commission reviewing legal requirements before proceeding. Despite the payment gap, Ali insisted “there is no loss to GoP,” using the abbreviation for Government of Pakistan.
The shifting official narrative, from a concrete two-thirds payment window to an open-ended “financial close”, underscores the execution risks in one of Pakistan’s most closely watched privatisations in years, and one the IMF has been monitoring as part of broader structural reform conditions attached to its $7 billion bailout program.
