Gulf's 'Big Three' eyeing possible PIA investment

According to Reuters, Pakistan plans to split ailing national flag carrier PIA into two companies and sell control of the core business to a global airline over the next 18 months.
Financial advisers are now in talks with several airlines about taking over the airline , which has some 17,000 employees but just 36 aircraft - and 10 of them are grounded due to a lack of spare parts.
Mohammad Zubair told Reuters
that no decision had been taken on the buyer, but he mentioned Emirates Airline, Etihad and Qatar Airways as possibilities.
"It's going to be the most difficult sale," said Zubair, who is aiming to raise around $4 billion this fiscal year from the sale of stakes in several companies, anticipating demands that the government hold onto PIA and nurse it back to health itself.
Analyst Saj Ahmad said: “It would be quite ironic if Emirates breaks its own unwritten rule and buy into an ailing PIA - the very same airline that loaned Dubai two airplanes in the 1980s that then set up Emirates.
“The difference between the two carriers couldn't be more stark. There's almost no value to PIA at all and Emirates has spurned bigger and better run airlines in the past. Qatar Airways seems content with integrating into the oneworld alliance and itself has plenty of connection options in Pakistan too.
“Etihad however, could well be a prime investor given that it has readily made investments on a piecemeal basis in a number of international airlines. Like India, the Pakistan air travel market is desperately weak and immature but also devoid of competition or innovation. Etihad could certainly turn PIA around, but the issue here will be whether PIA gets any financial bidders to pay the inflated and unjustified premium that they seek for selling off a stake in this poorly run carrier.”