Virgin Atlantic has ended its operations in Pakistan with the British carrier’s last flight from Islamabad to London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday. A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said the last flight left Islamabad International Airport for London’s Heathrow Airport at 8 am (local time). The British airline started its operations at Islamabad airport in December 2020 with seven weekly flights.
The Dawn newspaper reported on Monday that the airline initially operated four flights to Manchester and three to Heathrow Airport. Later, the airline reduced its services to Heathrow Airport to only three weekly flights. The report said that Virgin Atlantic provided the best air travel services to the customers between Islamabad and London.
“As we accelerate our flight schedule into 2023, we have taken the opportunity to review our entire network and have decided to make some changes,” a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said. He regretted taking the “difficult decision” to suspend services between London Heathrow and Pakistan.
“Since commencing operations in December 2020, we are proud to provide options for customers traveling between London and Manchester in the United Kingdom and Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan. During that time, we have added significant cargo The capacity has also provided vital medical supplies,” the spokesperson said.
“This is not a decision we made lightly, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We would like to thank everyone in Pakistan from the bottom of our hearts; Thank you to our customers, teams, partners and executives for their support over the past two years.”
It is unclear whether the decision was related to Pakistan’s economic crisis and their impact on businesses.