Pakistan moves to sell national airline in test case for privatization drive

Passengers landing at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi are greeted by a grim sight on arrival: the graveyard of out-of-service planes that once flew the skies for debt-strapped national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). "I do my best to avoid taking a PIA flight," said finance professional Asif Waleed, who regularly takes the two-hour trip between the coastal commercial hub and Pakistan's capital Islamabad. "I have a high degree of confidence that [their] flights never operate on time." The airline, which lost over $3.6b in the past 20 years, has been thrust into the spotlight this month as a test case for the government's ambitious plan to sell off more than 80 of Pakistan's state-owned enterprises. From power plants and utilities, to a women-focused bank and even a hotel in New York, assets owned by Pakistan are scheduled to be offloaded as the country seeks a multi-billion dollar package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail out an economy that has crashed into a high-debt, low-growth crisis. Ahead of an original May 4 deadline, 10 companies submitted bids to buy a majority stake in PIA, including Pakistani tycoon Arif Habib, domestic aviation services firm Gerry's Group and three of the nation's private airlines, according to local media reports. That deadline for bids was subsequently extended to May 18. A successful sale of PIA -- two years after the privatization of neighboring India's national carrier -- could be critical to a $6b to $8b bailout that the country is seeking from the IMF. The Washington-based fund has told Pakistan it must stop subsidizing money losing entities as a condition for loans to help prop up a faltering economy.<br/>