British Airways to resume flights to Pakistan after 10 years

British Airways will resume flights to Pakistan from June 2019, announced the airline on Tuesday.

“Direct flights from London Heathrow to Islamabad’s new airport to start in June,” said British High Commissioner Thomas Drew in a video on Twitter. “A further boost to links between the UK and Pakistan, especially on trade and investment.”

In September 2008, British Airways had suspended all its flights to Pakistan “for an indefinite period” citing security concerns in the aftermath of the Marriott Hotel bombing that claimed more than 50 lives and injured more than 250 people.

According to a press release on the airline’s website, the route will launch as a three-per-week service, operated on a three-class Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bukhari said:

“British Airways coming back after a decade shows you where we were and how far we’ve come,” Bukhari said, terming the announcement “groundbreaking”. “This is a huge achievement for where we [Pakistan] want to be. It’s a huge step for this government that it has given foreign investors that security to come back.”

Bukhari added that the second important point was the “connectivity factor”. “British Airways is a prestigious airline,” noted Bukhari, who is a dual national of the United Kingdom. “Pakistan is becoming less isolated and becoming more connected to the world — and that’s the Pakistan we want to see. We want to see a Pakistan that is heavily connected with the world.”