unaligned

Frontier Airlines hired underwriters for an IPO, people with knowledge of the matter said. Barclays, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase & Co are working on the IPO, said the people. Citigroup also will be working on the IPO, two people said. Frontier began talks with banks in December about going public.<br/>A Frontier IPO in the midst of a slow year for US stock-market debuts would be a victory for Indigo, which acquired the airline in 2013. Led by veteran airline executive William Franke, Indigo is no stranger to overseeing discount carriers: The firm once controlled Spirit Airlines, which went public in 2011, and is the largest shareholder in Wizz Air Holdings, Eastern Europe’s biggest low-fare operator. Representatives for Frontier and Indigo declined to comment, as did representatives for Barclays, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Citigroup. Virgin America’s 2014 offering was the last major IPO in the US industry.<br/>

Pakistan's upper house of parliament has rejected a bill to sell the cash-strapped national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines. Loss-making state enterprises drain about USD$5 billion from the state every year, around an eighth of the government's fiscal revenues of about INR4 trillion rupees (US$38.2b) last year. The bill now goes to a joint session of parliament next week, where it is expected to pass, because Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ruling party holds a majority in the combined assembly. "Government advisers have failed to present a revival plan for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), instead their complete focus is on privatisation," opposition Senator Saleem Mandviwalla said. The sale of 68 state-owned companies, among them loss-making enterprises such as PIA, is a crucial part of the 2013 IMF bailout and was meant to put the country's finances back on track.<br/>