Should PIA acquire Serene Air

[Usman123]

With having problems in operating, having less planes and considerably less staff and resources, it will be a good time for PIA to consider acquiring Major stake/ outright purchase Serene Air and operate it as its low cost/ domestic only carrier(also to less served airports) giving competition to airblue/ fly jinnah / Air sial with similar service, and leasing some of its A320s to serene after refurbishing them.

On the other hand using its 3 A330s to improve the long haul fleet in the short term.
I think this acquisition has more pros than cons if someone has any expertise to execute it, maybe the private management can.
A recent example is of Air India & Vistara

[HassanKhan]

A quick thought about the hypothetical situation immediately brings up some major problems:

1) Even if PIA gets privatized, it's finances would not be in the position to aquire another airline for another 5-10 years (and that's if everything goes smoothly)

2) Serene Air is not a publicly traded company so the only way to get a stake in it would be through convincing the owners who more likely than not would sell their stake for a high price/not be willing to sell at all

3) Serene fleet is a mess. PIA does not operate B330s and B737s and in a price sensitive market like Pakistan fleet commonality goes a long way. Yes Serene has 2 A320s but they can be acquired through other means too.

4) PIA has everything Serene does in terms of routes and if regaining domestic market share is a goal then PIA has plenty of room for improvements within its own operations.

I don't think the benefits outweighs the cons but I'm open to ther opinions

[PIA330]

Remember in the 1st Privatization attempt, Serene Air and AirSial were part of the Pak Ethanol Consortium. Serene Air and AirSial wanted to get PIA.

PIA won't be able to acquire any airline, even after Privatization whoever wins the bid. They will not go after buying airlines, they will inject money into PIA to make it profitable. They will spend money to make sure PIA is debt free, refurbish the cabins, spare parts and get about 10 to 15 new planes either by dry leasing or buying straight up with money.

PIA is in no position to buy a hotel or another airline, our Scribe hotel in Paris and Roosevelt hotel have to get Privatized too. We need to fix our airline, before thinking of going to another level.

Financials will depend on who wins the bid, if the YB Holdings or the 3rd bidder who may appear by surprise may win the bid. The reason I say Financials will depend on who wins the bid, is due to large amounts of money they will spend on the bidding and for PIA.