By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines has shortlisted Tewolde Gebremariam, the former chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines Group, to lead the recently privatized national carrier, according to a Bloomberg News report on Friday that cited a person familiar with the matter.
The newly reconstituted airline hopes to announce the appointment as early as Sunday, though the person cautioned that formal hiring procedures have not yet concluded, Bloomberg reported.
The move would place one of Africa’s most consequential airline executives in charge of an airline that has spent decades mired in debt, shrinking fleets, and government mismanagement — and whose ownership changed hands for the first time in its history just weeks ago.
Gebremariam spent eleven years at the helm of Ethiopian Airlines, a tenure credited with turning the carrier into the largest and most profitable airline on the African continent. Under his leadership, Addis Ababa developed into the continent’s dominant transit hub, connecting dozens of African cities to routes across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. During his time as CEO, the airline’s fleet expanded from 33 aircraft to 130, and annual revenue roughly quadrupled to $4.5 billion, according to figures cited in the Bloomberg report.
That record has made him an appealing hire for PIA’s new owners — a consortium led by the Pakistani businessman Arif Habib — as they attempt one of the more difficult turnarounds in South Asian aviation.
“Under Tewolde’s leadership, Ethiopian Airlines grew into Africa’s largest carrier, providing a link to cities around the continent from its transit hub in Addis Ababa,” Bloomberg’s report stated, describing the rationale behind his candidacy.
A privatization years in the making
PIA’s sale has been one of the most closely watched, and most delayed, economic reforms in Pakistan in recent memory. The government had pushed for years to shed its majority stake in the airline, which has weighed on public finances through mounting debt and chronic operating losses, but earlier attempts to attract bidders collapsed amid weak investor interest and disputes over valuation.
The Arif Habib-led consortium’s winning bid last year offered 135 billion rupees for a 75 percent stake in the airline — 35 percent above the government’s reference price — along with a pledge to invest an additional 80 billion rupees in the carrier going forward.
The deal advanced through several formal stages this spring. In April, shareholders of PIA Holding Company Limited approved the divestment of the 75 percent stake. Days later, on April 30, the consortium moved to acquire the remaining 25 percent of the airline, positioning the deal for full privatization.
Last month, Pakistan’s Privatisation Commission announced what it called the first closing of the transaction, formally transferring management control of PIA to the Arif Habib-led group after all conditions under the Share Purchase and Subscription Agreement had been satisfied. The consortium’s full takeover has been valued at roughly $647 million.
A mandate to rebuild
The scale of the task facing Gebremariam, should his hiring be finalized, is considerable. PIA’s fleet has contracted sharply over the past decade amid financial strain and maintenance issues, and the airline has lost ground on international routes to Gulf carriers and other regional competitors.
The consortium has signaled ambitions to roughly double PIA’s fleet to 38 aircraft and to aggressively compete for international market share the airline has ceded in recent years, according to the report.
A final decision on the appointment is expected within days, though the timeline remains subject to the completion of PIA’s internal governance procedures.
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