Virgin Atlantic announces to 'resume' Pakistan flight operations

ISLAMABAD: Virgin Atlantic Airways has announced the resumption of its flight operations to Pakistan, ARY News reported on Friday, citing well-placed sources.

As per details, Virgin Atlantic will reconnect London with Karachi, Islamabad, and Lahore starting from October this year.

According to aviation sources, the airline, which had suspended its services to Pakistan in 2023, has now been granted permission by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to restart its operations.

The British carrier will operate its flights via Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, linking Pakistan with its global network once again.

The resumption of services is expected to provide passengers with greater travel convenience and renewed connectivity between Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

In 2023, the British airline announced that it would be suspending services between London Heathrow and Lahore and Islamabad.

An airline’s spokesperson said: “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.”

Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and was originally planned by its co-founders Randolph Fields and Alan Hellary to fly between London and the Falkland Islands.

Soon after changing the name to Virgin Atlantic Airways, Fields sold his shares in the company to Richard Branson in return for unlimited free travel.

The maiden flight from London–Gatwick to Newark took place on 22 June 1984.

The airline along with Virgin Holidays is controlled by a holding company, Virgin Atlantic Limited, which is 51% owned by the Virgin Group and 49% by Delta Air Lines.