British Airways has temporarily suspended operations for Pakistan due to operations reasons. The flights have been suspended between Islamabad Airport and London Heathrow Airport.
Flight operations have been suspended between 15th June and 30th June due to operational reasons. The spokesperson denied the reports of suspending the flight operations due to the unavailability of fuel as baseless and fake. The flight operations between Islamabad and London will be resumed soon, he added.
In February this year, British Airways had suspected the direct flights between London and Lahore upon completion of the agreement.
Back in 2019, British Airways announced to start flight operations in Pakistan after almost a decade. After a long gap of 10 years, the first flight of British Airways, BAW-261 landed at Islamabad International Airport from Heathrow, with 240 passengers on board on June 3, 2019.
BA stopped flying to the country after a bombing in the capital city of Islamabad in 2008, which killed more than 50 people.
Read more: British Airways announces return to Pakistan after a decade
Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, Special Assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Hussain Bukhari, and senior officials of the Aviation Division and the British High Commission had welcomed the passengers at the IIA.
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew has said the airline’s resuming operations is a testament to Pakistan’s improving security situation.
In a video message via Twitter, the British envoy had said that “this is a big day for the UK and Pakistan as the first flight of British Airways’ new direct service takes off from London’s Heathrow, headed here to Islamabad.”
Drew said that “Britain’s flag carrier is back, the two countries are already so close in so many ways and this will only bring us closer.” Reportedly, he said that British Airways is the first European airline to return to Pakistan after more than 10 years. “This flight is a symbol of the extraordinary links between our two countries, from commerce culture and cricket to people politics and education,” he said.