Virgin Atlantic ends operations in Pakistan

VIRGIN ATLANTIC ended its operations in Pakistan with the British carrier’s last flight taking off from Islamabad to London’s Heathrow Airport last Sunday (9).

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said the final flight left from Islamabad International Airport to Heathrow at 8 am (local time).

The British airline began its operations at Islamabad airport in December 2020 with seven weekly flights. The airline initially operated four flights to Manchester and three to Heathrow, the Dawn newspaper reported on Monday (10).

Later, the airline reduced its services to only three weekly flights to Heathrow. “As we continue to ramp up our flying programme in 2023, we’ve taken the opportunity to review our entire network and decided to make a few changes,” a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said. He expressed regret for taking the “difficult decision”.

“Since commencing operations in December 2020, we have been proud to offer choice for customers travelling between London and Manchester in the United Kingdom, and Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan. During that time, we have also provided important cargo capacity, as well as delivering vital medical supplies,” the spokesperson said.

“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. We would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone in Pakistan; our customers, teams, partners and the authorities,” he added.