The government has decided to privatise the national flag carrier on Oct 1 this year. A special meeting of the Standing Committee on Privatisation was held under the chair of MNA Dr Farooq Sattar. The secretary briefed the committee on the latest update. Privatisation Division Secretary Jawad Paul said in the briefing that it had been decided to privatise the PIA on Oct 1, 2024. The process for the privatisation of the PIA will be completed in September. During the meeting briefing, it was told that the PIA lost Rs500 billion in the last eight years. The airline had lost Rs80 billion in the last financial year alone. “The PIA has to make payments of Rs825 billion,” he said. The Privatisation Division officials told the committee that no international company participated in the privatisation process. Committee member Sahar Kamran said the SIFC should be shut if international companies do not continue to invest. During the meeting, Jawad Paul said the PIA employees would continue to serve for three years. After that, the employees would be eased out after payment of dues, he added.