Pakistan International Airlines has finally reported something it has not managed in two decades. A profit. Rs 11.5 billion in the first half of 2025, a figure the board trumpeted as proof that the national carrier is not beyond salvation.
While the lifting of European and British bans considerably added wind to its wings, the decisive boost (even if it is not being talked about) came from the government assuming nearly 80% of legacy debt, trimming finance costs. After years of red ink, the turnaround is welcome, though it owes more to balance-sheet relief than operational brilliance.
Strip away the accounting relief and the airline still faces turbulence: an ageing fleet, a culture corroded by political interference, and the lingering effects of mismanagement that drove passengers and markets away. Celebrations risk masking the long arc of decline. PIA was once the envy of Asia, launching jets before most neighbours, training Emirates’ first crew, and flying record-setting routes. That heritage was squandered by crony appointments, bloated payrolls, ill-judged “open skies” deals that ceded traffic to Gulf rivals, and a union culture that treated reform as betrayal. A single minister’s reckless remarks on pilot licensing in 2020 closed the door to European and US markets, costing an estimated $600 million in lost revenue. Scars like these are not erased by one profitable quarter.
Privatisation, demanded under IMF conditionality, now looms large as the supposed cure. Yet herein lies the dilemma: Islamabad has socialised the losses, absorbing debt with taxpayer money, only to privatise the gains by presenting a “clean” airline to bidders. Five domestic groups are circling, but unless the process is transparent and competitive, it risks becoming another instance of family silver sold cheap.
If the national carrier’s profit is to mean anything, it should mark the start of entrenched structural reform. That requires depoliticised management, safety and compliance embedded in practice rather than rhetoric, and a culture where careers are built on performance alone. Privatisation may deliver capital and efficiency. Without reform, however, the decay will simply shadow any new owner.
PIA has shown it can fly again, and the numbers prove it. The real test now is whether Pakistan seizes this moment to build a sustainable carrier or falls back into the familiar cycle of relief, relapse and regret.
