PIA new CEO Adrian Hamilton-Manns: who he is and what he ran before
Adrian Hamilton-Manns took charge of PIA on Monday. Here is his airline record, who he replaces and what the new owners want from him.
Pakistan International Airlines has a new chief executive. The PIA board announced on Monday, 2 November, that Adrian Hamilton-Manns had taken charge, and by Tuesday his name was one of the most searched terms in Pakistan, with more than 5,000 searches on Google Trends.
He replaces Air Vice Marshal Amir Hayat, who led the national carrier for about four and a half years.
Who is Adrian Hamilton-Manns?
Hamilton-Manns is an airline executive with more than 30 years in the business, according to PIA’s announcement, which says he has run three airlines as CEO and held senior roles at several others. The board called his appointment “a pivotal chapter” in the airline’s transformation.
His most recent job was chief executive of SalamAir, the Omani budget airline, which named a new CEO from 1 October. Before that he was president and CEO of FlyArystan, the low-cost arm of Kazakhstan’s Air Astana group, from 2020 to 2024. He was also the founding CEO of the African start-up airline flyafrica.com, and his career began at Air New Zealand in the late 1990s. He has also worked at Virgin Australia and South African Airways.
Why it matters now
This is the first big leadership change since PIA was sold. A consortium led by Arif Habib bought 75 per cent of the airline last December with a winning bid of Rs135 billion and took over management in June 2026.
The new owners are spending: PIA’s first leased Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landed in Islamabad over the weekend, and the airline wants to grow its UK and European routes now that the ban on those flights has been lifted.
That is the job Hamilton-Manns walks into: more aircraft, more routes and a long history of losses to turn around.
The question people are asking
Most of his career has been at low-cost airlines, where tickets are cheap and extras are paid for. PIA is a full-service carrier with a large workforce and Hajj and Umrah traffic. Aviation commentators have already raised whether a budget-airline specialist is the right fit; supporters point out that FlyArystan grew fast under him.
PIA has not yet said what changes he plans, whether in fares, routes or staff.
What Amir Hayat leaves behind
In its statement, PIA thanked Hayat for leading the airline through a hard period. It credited him with better safety standards, with helping get the restrictions on flights to Europe and the UK lifted, and with preparing the airline for privatisation.
The first signs of the new CEO’s plans will likely come with PIA’s winter schedule and its next Dreamliner deliveries.
