Govt formally transfers management control of PIA to Arif Habib-led consortium

ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission on Monday announced the formal transfer of management control of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) to the Arif Habib Corporation-led consortium, culminating the privatisation process that began last year. “The government achieves first financial closing of PIACL privatisation transaction with management control transferred to the investor consortium following satisfaction of all conditions precedent under the Share Purchase and Subscription Agreement (SPSA),” said the Privatisation Commission after a meeting of the restructured PIACL board. The new board appointed Lt Gen (retd) Anwar Ali Haider, managing director of Fauji Foundation, as the first chairman of the privatised entity. In its press release, the commission commended the “support and guidance” of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, and other relevant cabinet committees and officials. “Since execution of the SPSA on January 29, 2026, the Privatisation Commission and other GoP stakeholders including Ministry of Defence completed a challenging Condition Precedents under the SPSA, the PC said. “ “These included domestic and overseas regulatory approvals, lessors and commercial consents, aviation policy reforms, corporate approvals, restructuring of taxation relating to legacy liabilities, aircraft financing arrangements, governance changes, tax-related matters, airport infrastructure arrangements, and the provision of transaction security by the investor consortium,” the statement said. There were a total of 40 Conditions Precedents in regulatory, commercial and contractual consents, taxation matters, shareholders restructuring, rental rearrangements and governance matters. On the regulatory side, the transaction required approvals, notices and confirmations from multiple regulatory authorities. These included aviation-related approvals from the Pakistan Civil