There has been no excitemement for Pakistan International Airlines as the bidding process closes with just one bid, below what the government hoped the sell off would raise.
The single interested party placed a bid of 10 billion Pakistani rupees for a 60% stake in the troubled national flag carrier owned by the government according to the Privatisation Ministry last week.
Blue World City admitted its bid was well below the government's minimum price of 85 billion Pakistani rupees, its Chairman Saad Nazir said: "We wish the government all the best if they don’t want to accept our bid." Later he spoke to news agency Reuters that it did not make commercial sense to raise their bid, "The cabinet is going to discuss this offer of ours. If this doesn't go through and they don't accept our offer, we will start our own airline."
Some local aviation anyalists believe there was a lack of interest in bidding for part of the the national carrier was partly the cost, partly the poor state of the airline and partly the lack of trust in the government being able to continue to support the airline in the near and long term future.
The value of the carrier seems excessively high based on its current operation and outstanding debt. The airline is also overstaffed and suffering from a poor international reputation and profit making route network. The airline is currently banned from flying in or out of the UK by the Civil Aviation Authority over various issues, including safety.