LONDON: The British High Commissioner Christian Turner has thanked Pakistani government, national airlines and Qatar Airways to facilitate the return of Britons amid suspension of flight operations due to coronavirus, ARY News reported on Wednesday.
The British envoy, Christian Turner, said in a video message on Twitter that around 5,000 Britons have recently returned home through 21 special flights. He added that overall 25,000 British citizens flew back to the United Kingdom (UK) with the efforts of the high commission.
Turner briefed that a series of chartered flights had initiated from April 21 to different destinations in the UK. The chartered flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Qatar Airways took flights from major cities including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi in order to transport UK citizens trapped in Pakistan.
Read: British HC thanks FM for facilitating repatriation of UK citizens
The envoy announced that the chartered flight operations have successfully completed and the British government was ready to review the arrangements for running more flights for UK citizens.
Today the last of 21 Charter ✈️ left 🇵🇰, flying 5,000 people home; a total of over 25,000 people returned to 🇬🇧 since 4 April. 🙏 to all who made that possible. pic.twitter.com/isny5d4TXb
— Christian Turner (@CTurnerFCO) May 13, 2020
Turner said that he was thankful to the Pakistani government, PIA and Qatar Airways for facilitating the UK government for repatriating citizens.
Read: CAA issues advisory for international, domestic flights
Earlier on April 15, the United Kingdom (UK) government had decided to operate chartered flights to repatriate British citizens trapped in Pakistan due to the suspension of international flights following coronavirus pandemic.
Before the suspension of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) daily flights to the UK, 7,758 British citizens had been departed home through 22 flights during nine days since April 4, according to the British high commissioner.
