New snap elections were called for 6 October 1993. That same year, he was appointed as the chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. During his two years in this office, he is credited with implementing long-term and comprehensive reforms and getting the airline out of debt. His tenure as the Chairman of PIA was terminated following the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état, during which then-Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf overthrew Sharif and his existing elected government. Abbasi's tenure as Member of the National Assembly was also terminated with the dissolution of the assembly. Abbasi, along with Sharif, was named in the infamous plane hijacking case. Charges were levelled against him for denying the landing of Musharraf's PIA plane at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on its way back from Sri Lanka on 12 October 1999, and he was held responsible for conspiring with Sharif to kill Musharraf. He was forced to provide a testimonial statement against Sharif for the hijacking case, but he refused to release the statement. He was also pressured by the Pakistan Army to switch allegiance from Sharif, but he refused. In a 2008 interview, Abbasi claimed that Musharraf himself took control of the plane in 1999. As chairman of PIA, he was accused of 11 million in corruption in the purchase of 200 computers for the airline, however he was acquitted of this in 2008. Abbasi was the PML-N candidate for the Constituency NA-50 (Rawalpindi) seat, but lost to PPP candidate Ghulam Murtaza Satti with 63,797 votes (37.21%) to 74,259 (43.31%). Abbasi indicated that the exile of Sharif disappointed the people, People from his constituency claim he contested the election unwillingly, explaining why he lost it. After his defeat, he distanced himself from politics to focus on Airblue Limited, and then went on to become its chief operating officer.