New Zealand-born aviation executive Adrian Hamilton-Manns has become the new chief executive of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The national carrier’s Board of Directors made the appointment on Monday, November 2. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the global airline industry, much of it spent leading and reshaping low-cost carriers.
Hamilton-Manns replaces Air Vice Marshal Amir Hayat, who ran the airline for around four and a half years and oversaw its move towards privatisation. PIA described its new chief as an expert in transforming and reviving aviation businesses, adding that he had previously served as chief executive of three airlines.
Career built largely on low-cost airlines
Hamilton-Manns began his aviation career at Air New Zealand in 1997. In the years that followed, he held senior commercial and leadership roles at South African Airways, IndiGo in India, Pacific Blue, a unit of Virgin Australia, and Indonesia’s Mandala Airlines.
He later became the founding chief executive of flyafrica.com, an Africa-focused low-cost carrier, a post he held from 2012 to 2016. Between 2020 and 2024 he was president and chief executive of FlyArystan, the low-cost subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s Air Astana Group. In July 2024 he joined Oman-based SalamAir as chief executive, remaining in that role until 2026.
According to Business Recorder, he holds a Bachelor of Aviation from Massey University in New Zealand and an MBA in Tourism from the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom.
Growth record at FlyArystan and SalamAir
Low-cost carriers operate on leaner cost structures and often depend on extra passenger services to earn revenue. Much of Hamilton-Manns’ senior management experience has come from airlines of this kind, and his time at FlyArystan coincided with rapid expansion.
Figures cited by the aviation publication Aviacionline, drawing on Air Astana Group data, show FlyArystan’s revenue rose 384 per cent between 2020 and 2023, from $57.4 million to $277.8 million. The airline’s fleet also grew to 19 aircraft.
Figures cited by Forbes Middle East put SalamAir’s activity between April and June 2025 at 5,144 flights carrying 712,610 passengers. Forbes Middle East also included Hamilton-Manns among its 100 leaders driving the region’s travel and tourism sector.
PIA’s privatisation and the challenges ahead
PIA is now run by private-sector management after years of financial losses, operational difficulties and a shrinking market share. The sale was part of government efforts to cut losses at state-owned enterprises and bring private investment into the struggling airline. In December 2025, an Arif Habib-led consortium won the competitive auction for a 75 per cent stake in Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited with a bid of Rs135 billion, marking Pakistan’s first major privatisation in nearly two decades. Management control passed to the new owners on June 29, 2026.
The consortium has set a target of making PIA profitable in its first year under private ownership. Its longer-term plan is to expand the fleet from 19 aircraft to 64 over eight years, while improving maintenance, engineering and operational efficiency. The airline is also rebuilding its international network. It recently received its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner under a lease arrangement with Norse Atlantic Airways and is negotiating with Boeing over the possible purchase of 16 Dreamliners.
The report notes that PIA differs sharply from the carriers Hamilton-Manns has mostly led. PIA is a full-service airline with domestic and international routes, a larger organisation and wider operational responsibilities. How well he can apply the cost discipline he developed at low-cost airlines to that model will be a key test of his leadership.
PIA’s board said it is confident his experience will help improve service standards, advance the airline’s strategic goals and deliver sustainable profitability. It credited Hayat with introducing structural reforms, improving operational efficiency and preparing the airline for privatisation. Hamilton-Manns now faces the task of turning the change in ownership into lasting gains for the airline.
