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British Airways to restart Pakistan flights after 10-year hiatus

British Airways to restart Pakistan flights after 10-year hiatus

Mubasher: British Airways (BA) announced that it will resume flights to Pakistan following a 10-year hiatus, becoming the first Western airline to restart flights to the Asian country.

BA would launch the Heathrow-Islamabad direct route starting from 2 June, with three weekly flights by the airline’s latest long-haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

BA believes the rout “will be particularly popular with the British Pakistani community who want to visit, or be visited by, their relatives,” the airlines’ sales head for Asia Pacific and the Middle East Robert Williams said.

the carrier believes the route "will be particularly popular with the British Pakistani community who want to visit, or be visited by, their relatives".

The flag carrier halted flights after one of the major attacks in Pakistan’s history, the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad, in which 54 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

The incident occurred during a period of devastating militant violence that swept Pakistan.

The return of British Airways was largely attributed to “an improvement in the security environment,” Deputy British High Commissioner to Pakistan Richard Crowder told reporters.

“Once it gets around the world that British Airways has put its stamp of approval on Pakistan, it will put us one or two notches up as a country to do business with,” Pakistani Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood said.

Pakistan has been running international advertising campaigns to revitalize its tourism sector.