In the midst of Pakistan’s tumultuous times, major airline players, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, have dealt a significant blow to the struggling nation by suspending their flight services. Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic made the announcement of halting its flights between London’s Heathrow Airport and Lahore, as well as Islamabad. The services between London and Lahore were discontinued on 1 May this year, with operations between London and Islamabad set to cease on 9 July 2023. Similarly, British Airways, despite launching a Lahore service from Heathrow post-pandemic, abruptly terminated the route last year, further exacerbating the challenges faced by Pakistan.
In line of the airline giants deserting Pakistan, Bradford West MP, Naz Shah had a meeting in Bradford, with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), whose flight operations to Pakistan have also been suspended since 2020, and wrote to the Secretary of State for Transport, Rt Hon. Mark Harper MP.
Naz Shah MP has asked the Secretary of State for Transport to outline what efforts his department is taking to resolve the issues highlighted in her letter.
She urged the DfT to undertake all required checks and ensure direct flights from UK to Pakistan are resumed as soon as possible.
Naz Shah MP said: “I have further met with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Bradford Office, which is also based in my constituency, about the grounding of PIA flights from the UK. My understanding is that PIA flight operations have been suspended from UK airports LHR, MAN, BHX and EDI since July 2020.
“Following this suspension my constituents had a remaining option of using BA and Virgin for direct flights. However, BA have significantly reduced their direct flights to Pakistan, and earlier this year Virgin also announced that they will be suspending direct services between London Heathrow and Lahore and Islamabad by July 2023. This means that my constituents will not be able to benefit from direct flights to Pakistan for family visits, business, work, and leisure, and my constituent will need to travel for 15/16 hours, often in emergency circumstances just to get to Pakistan.
“The suspension of PIA has also meant that my constituents have been unable to benefit from PIA’s unique services like free transportation of deceased relatives to Pakistan. I understand that other airlines are charging huge sums of money for the same service, and the same airlines have also raised their flight fares to Pakistan, which has made it difficult for my constituents and British Pakistanis across the country to visit families in Pakistan.”
The Bradford West MP, further added: “It has been nearly three years since PIA flights have been grounded, and since then PIA have worked tirelessly to ensure that they achieve authorisation from the Department for Transport to operate in the UK.
“Every year 270,000 British Pakistani’s travel to Pakistan to visit families, and for business and work purposes. I know that the suspension of flights has had a huge impact on the British Pakistani community in the UK.”
