Virgin Atlantic to launch flights to Pakistan

[KingKhanWC]

Virgin Atlantic has announced plans to launch flights from London and Manchester to Pakistan.

This December the carrier will commence routes from Heathrow and Manchester to Islamabad, and from Heathrow to Lahore.

Schedules have yet to be announced, and flights will go on sale in September, subject to applicable regulatory approvals.

Virgin’s chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinen said that with travel restrictions still in place for many destinations around the world, “we’re continually evaluating our network, looking at customer demand and where there are opportunities to launch new services”.

The carrier said that the services would offer “seamless, speedy connections and a consistent long-haul onboard experience for customers travelling from destinations throughout North America, including New York JFK, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston and San Francisco via London Heathrow onwards to Pakistan”.

“Pakistan is an extremely exciting opportunity for us – it boasts one of the largest foreign-born populations in both the UK and the US and, as people start to travel to visit loved ones, we’re anticipating the demand  to visit friends and relatives will increase post COVID-19,” said Jarvinen.

“Both Lahore and Islamabad are popular year-round destinations and we look forward to welcoming travellers onboard as demand for leisure and business travel gradually increases to the region.

“We also see a significant opportunity to increase competition in the US – Pakistan market. Using the strength of our transatlantic services we’re able to offer customers the shortest journey to and from destinations in the US such as New York, Los Angeles and Washington by connecting through London Heathrow”.

British Airways flies between London Heathrow and Islamabad, and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) offers flights to London, Birmingham and Manchester. The country’s flag carrier is currently banned from EU and UK airspace, although PIA is understood to be chartering an A330 aircraft through Portuguese firm Hi Fly in order to continue services to the UK.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/b...irgin-atlantic-to-launch-flights-to-pakistan/

Good news.

This is one airline i've never travelled on.

Any experiences good or bad?

 

[Uzi]

https://www.businesstraveller.com/b...irgin-atlantic-to-launch-flights-to-pakistan/

Good news.

This is one airline i've never travelled on.

Any experiences good or bad?

Pretty decent in my experience. Definitely better than the alternatives in BA and PIA IMO.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Pretty decent in my experience. Definitely better than the alternatives in BA and PIA IMO.

Ill give them a go later this year. I wonder what the prices will be but I doubt higher than PIA, who were ripping people off.

 

[PetroDollars]

This is direct, then goodbye PIA

 

[King-Misbah]

Great work by PTI government, hopefully we get more competitive prices now when flying back to Pakistan.

 

[Major]

Shameful stuff from the govt. THey can't save their national carrier, and now foreign companies will be taking those routes.

THis is only happening due to the national carrier being banned from EU and UK.

Nothing to celebrate here.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Shameful stuff from the govt. THey can't save their national carrier, and now foreign companies will be taking those routes.

THis is only happening due to the national carrier being banned from EU and UK.

Nothing to celebrate here.

The depth of incompetence and corruption within PIA devolped over the last couple of decades under previous governments who we now know were run by theives.

Good on PTI to arrange this with Virgin, giving overseas Pakistanis a viable good quailty option for travel.

 

[KingKhanWC]

This is direct, then goodbye PIA

Direct from UK , Manchester and Heathrow to Isb and Lahore.

 

[PetroDollars]

Shameful stuff from the govt. THey can't save their national carrier, and now foreign companies will be taking those routes.

THis is only happening due to the national carrier being banned from EU and UK.

Nothing to celebrate here.

Do you have relatives in PIA or something that will suffer?

The competition provided by BA and Virgin will only push PIA to do better.

 

[Major]

Do you have relatives in PIA or something that will suffer?

The competition provided by BA and Virgin will only push PIA to do better.

competition won't affect PIA. They are not gonna do better because the pay cheques will keep coming in.

Pakistan suffers with PIA's loss.

 

[Major]

The depth of incompetence and corruption within PIA devolped over the last couple of decades under previous governments who we now know were run by theives.

Good on PTI to arrange this with Virgin, giving overseas Pakistanis a viable good quailty option for travel.

previous govt previous previous govt.

This is the only argument that is provided whenever something happens.

 

[King-Misbah]

Shameful stuff from the govt. THey can't save their national carrier, and now foreign companies will be taking those routes.

THis is only happening due to the national carrier being banned from EU and UK.

Nothing to celebrate here.

Competition will only push PIA to improve, let's not encourage a monopoly but a open, competitive market.

 

[PetroDollars]

competition won't affect PIA. They are not gonna do better because the pay cheques will keep coming in.

Pakistan suffers with PIA's loss.

There will be no pay cheque if theres no airline left.

They have already eaten it up, time to wake them up by providing competition.

 

[PetroDollars]

Btw. whats happening with PIA is what usaly happens when one holds a monopoly - when that is broken, thats when they start waking up

 

[King-Misbah]

previous govt previous previous govt.

This is the only argument that is provided whenever something happens.

It will take atleast a decade to undo the incompetence and corruption completed by your political godfathers. I guess yhe truth hurts you and ofcourse you have a propaganda against the government.

 

[Syed1]

Brit Paks are lucky now they have three options for direct flights, BA, Virgin and PIA. This will drive ticket prices to be lower and the end beneficiaries will be the passengers. PIA will also have to up their game to compete with two international standard airlines.

 

[JaDed]

Brit Paks are lucky now they have three options for direct flights, BA, Virgin and PIA. This will drive ticket prices to be lower and the end beneficiaries will be the passengers. PIA will also have to up their game to compete with two international standard airlines.

“We also see a significant opportunity to increase competition in the US – Pakistan market. Using the strength of our transatlantic services we’re able to offer customers the shortest journey to and from destinations in the US such as New York, Los Angeles and Washington by connecting through London Heathrow”.- should hopefully bring down Tor Prices as well

 

[Nervesofsteel]

Definitely a great decision. More competition is always good for the consumer. Regarding PIA...I really hope government just gets rid of it for good. That airline is way beyond the point where it can be fixed.

 

[gani999]

Brit Paks are lucky now they have three options for direct flights, BA, Virgin and PIA. This will drive ticket prices to be lower and the end beneficiaries will be the passengers. PIA will also have to up their game to compete with two international standard airlines.

They have several one-stop options via the middle east and Turkey too. But I doubt the prices will go down, particularly with the kind of losses the airlines have faced during the COVID-19 crisis.

 

[topspin]

https://www.businesstraveller.com/b...irgin-atlantic-to-launch-flights-to-pakistan/

Good news.

This is one airline i've never travelled on.

Any experiences good or bad?

I flew with Virgin when I went to Miami in 2018. It was a good experience but if you're someone who doesn't pack their whole house as baggage then I recommend British Airways because they offer the best terms when you consider the amount of hand baggage they let you carry. Also, they're usually cheaper than Virgin as well.

 

[topspin]

Shameful stuff from the govt. THey can't save their national carrier, and now foreign companies will be taking those routes.

THis is only happening due to the national carrier being banned from EU and UK.

Nothing to celebrate here.

The only shameful thing here is your post and how you have used this thread to bash the current government. Mind you, I used to be a PTI man but you have no case here because as mentioned by another poster, the problems at PTI have occurred due to the lack of due diligence and governance from previous governments.

What do you have to say about revelations of their pilots being unqualified? Instead of finding petty ways to blame the current government, perhaps you should reflect on why PIA is where it's at today.

 

[Major]

The only shameful thing here is your post and how you have used this thread to bash the current government. Mind you, I used to be a PTI man but you have no case here because as mentioned by another poster, the problems at PTI have occurred due to the lack of due diligence and governance from previous governments.

What do you have to say about revelations of their pilots being unqualified? Instead of finding petty ways to blame the current government, perhaps you should reflect on why PIA is where it's at today.

Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) has welcomed the acknowledgment by the Prime Minister that pilots’ fake licenses fiasco was unnecessarily created and not handled properly.


A spokesman for the association has expressed hope that the PM Imran Khan will order a thorough investigation why the report which formed the basis for the fake licenses issue, surfaced again despite being rejected by the supreme court last year.



He said that the PM and parliament were deliberately misinformed to feed the personal vendetta against the pilot community by the vested interests that are hell bent on destroying the national carrier.

He said that the campaign against pilots for fake degrees and flying licences is actually undertaken to victimize those having disagreement with incumbent management most of which do not have relevant commercial aviation experience.



He also demanded the PM to order proper inquiry into the recent incident at the licensing branch of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) where an unknown person tried to set the official record on fire.

“Given the highly charged, confused and controversial attitudes by authorities, any attempt to put the blame on pilots will not only be unjust but will also prove the malafide intentions,” stated Palpa.


https://dailytimes.com.pk/656759/palpa-welcomes-pms-endorsement-for-pilots-on-fake-licenses-fiasco/

the govt created the mess and that has had an affect on PIA.

Posters here are talking about that PIA is a lost cause and how govt before them should be blamed. well guess what, 2 years into govt and they caused such a rukus for PIA but they wil shift the blame on the past govt.

 

[topspin]

Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) has welcomed the acknowledgment by the Prime Minister that pilots’ fake licenses fiasco was unnecessarily created and not handled properly.


A spokesman for the association has expressed hope that the PM Imran Khan will order a thorough investigation why the report which formed the basis for the fake licenses issue, surfaced again despite being rejected by the supreme court last year.



He said that the PM and parliament were deliberately misinformed to feed the personal vendetta against the pilot community by the vested interests that are hell bent on destroying the national carrier.

He said that the campaign against pilots for fake degrees and flying licences is actually undertaken to victimize those having disagreement with incumbent management most of which do not have relevant commercial aviation experience.



He also demanded the PM to order proper inquiry into the recent incident at the licensing branch of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) where an unknown person tried to set the official record on fire.

“Given the highly charged, confused and controversial attitudes by authorities, any attempt to put the blame on pilots will not only be unjust but will also prove the malafide intentions,” stated Palpa.


https://dailytimes.com.pk/656759/palpa-welcomes-pms-endorsement-for-pilots-on-fake-licenses-fiasco/

the govt created the mess and that has had an affect on PIA.

Posters here are talking about that PIA is a lost cause and how govt before them should be blamed. well guess what, 2 years into govt and they caused such a rukus for PIA but they wil shift the blame on the past govt.

If this is true then this is poor from PTI. PIA has a bad enough reputation anyway, so this has made it worse for the airline.

Having said that I don't think you can blame the current government for allowing other airlines to fly to Pakistan but I understand your sentiment more clearly now.

More Airlines to Pakistan isn't good for PIA but it's for the greater good of Pakistan because it will attract more visitors and subsequently boost Pakistan's economy. I can promise there are many people like myself would rather not go to Pakistan then have to fly with PIA. Their problems have been well documented, so they simply cannot be trusted.

 

[Major]

If this is true then this is poor from PTI. PIA has a bad enough reputation anyway, so this has made it worse for the airline.

Having said that I don't think you can blame the current government for allowing other airlines to fly to Pakistan but I understand your sentiment more clearly now.

More Airlines to Pakistan isn't good for PIA but it's for the greater good of Pakistan because it will attract more visitors and subsequently boost Pakistan's economy. I can promise there are many people like myself would rather not go to Pakistan then have to fly with PIA. Their problems have been well documented, so they simply cannot be trusted.

We dont have many pakistan made brands or businesses, the ones we have have been runned down like this and is terrible. Having such assets are very viable and could provide great business to us if only we run it properly.

people here think privatization should be done, but privatization is never a good option for govt businesses.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) has welcomed the acknowledgment by the Prime Minister that pilots’ fake licenses fiasco was unnecessarily created and not handled properly.


A spokesman for the association has expressed hope that the PM Imran Khan will order a thorough investigation why the report which formed the basis for the fake licenses issue, surfaced again despite being rejected by the supreme court last year.



He said that the PM and parliament were deliberately misinformed to feed the personal vendetta against the pilot community by the vested interests that are hell bent on destroying the national carrier.

He said that the campaign against pilots for fake degrees and flying licences is actually undertaken to victimize those having disagreement with incumbent management most of which do not have relevant commercial aviation experience.



He also demanded the PM to order proper inquiry into the recent incident at the licensing branch of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) where an unknown person tried to set the official record on fire.

“Given the highly charged, confused and controversial attitudes by authorities, any attempt to put the blame on pilots will not only be unjust but will also prove the malafide intentions,” stated Palpa.


https://dailytimes.com.pk/656759/palpa-welcomes-pms-endorsement-for-pilots-on-fake-licenses-fiasco/

the govt created the mess and that has had an affect on PIA.

Posters here are talking about that PIA is a lost cause and how govt before them should be blamed. well guess what, 2 years into govt and they caused such a rukus for PIA but they wil shift the blame on the past govt.

Even if the fake pilot issue never happened PIA would still lose money. It is unfortunate a lost cause, only benefiting the employees. Most Pakistanis hate PIA.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

This is direct, then goodbye PIA

Unfortunately not. The union is too strong to go away.

 

[Nervesofsteel]

Can't believe some people still believe the unions word. Wake up & smell the coffee. PIA cannot be revived. It is in debt of over 400 billion rupees. Yes you read that right. 400 billion rupees.

These damn unions and the previous 5 years of PPP & 5 years of PML - N have destroyed PIA. Thousands of ghost employees, fake pilots, drunk pilots, useless cabin crew. My mom took PIA last year & she is the least picky person I know & even she said I will never take this airline ever again.

 

[Nervesofsteel]

Even the current CEO under PTI seems pretty pathetic. One of the first things he did when he took over was get rid of boarding music & replace it with Naat's. Like seriously dude? The airline is in debt of 400+ billion rupees & you got many many problems to deal with...and you're worried about some boarding music? Never seen such clueless people

 

[MenInG]

RAWALPINDI: British airline Virgin Atlantic will commence its flight operation for the country from Dec 13 as the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has approved its flight operation to and from Pakistan.

The PCAA granted approval to Virgin Atlantic to start its flight operation in response to its request made on Dec 2. Virgin Atlantic is scheduled to start its flight operations for Islamabad and Lahore. The airliner will use Airbus A-332 aircraft to continue a weekly eight-flight operation to the two cities.

According to the schedule approved by the PCAA, the first passenger flight VS365 will take off from London on Dec 13 and land at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport on Dec 14 in the morning.

The airline will operate four weekly flights between London and Lahore and three flights between Lon*don and Islamabad. Before starting its flight operation to Pakistan, Virgin Atlantic will operate a cargo flight VS364 from England to Pakistan on Dec 7.

The airline had reportedly sought permission to operate flights from Manchester and London.

The airline had earlier announced three routes to Pakistan from the UK — London-Lahore, London-Islamabad and Manchester-Islamabad. The federal cabinet had given approval to the airline to operate direct flights between Pakistan and London.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2020

 

[tahir_dj]

Very Pathetic of CAA for not allowing Manchester Islamabad route

 

[Gabbar Singh]

Very Pathetic of CAA for not allowing Manchester Islamabad route

Probably paid a bribe by someone at PIA - can’t have them losing their monopoly on Man-Isb direct flights now can we.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Probably paid a bribe by someone at PIA - can’t have them losing their monopoly on Man-Isb direct flights now can we.

Another Indian joins the honorary list for Pakistani citizenship via conspiracy theory DNA. Welcome aboard Sir Gabbar Singh!

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Checked their flight prices the other day from the 13th when they start and their fares were at £850.

Seems like even with a pandemic like this air fares have shot up considerably despite perhaps not many traveling as the year before.

Airlines even not going with full capacity seem to still want to maximise their chances of getting back into the game by still having high fare prices.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bauhat Mubarak &#55356;&#56821;&#55356;&#56816; ! With <a href="https://twitter.com/sayedzbukhari?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sayedzbukhari</a> at touch-down of the first <a href="https://twitter.com/VirginAtlantic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VirginAtlantic</a> flight. From 0 &#55356;&#56812;&#55356;&#56807; flights to 20 a week is a sign of confidence in Pakistan <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UKPakDosti?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UKPakDosti</a> <a href="https://t.co/fS9hfOHINM">pic.twitter.com/fS9hfOHINM</a></p>— Christian Turner (@CTurnerFCDO) <a href="https://twitter.com/CTurnerFCDO/status/1337244538239406081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

ISLAMABAD: Virgin Atlantic’s first flight to Pakistan landed at the New Islamabad International Airport on Friday.

“Virgin Atlantic’s inaugural flight lands in Islamabad,” wrote Advisor to PM on Overseas Pakistani Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari on Twitter. “Great new step for our United Kingdom and European Union-based diaspora. Pakistan is more connected and open for travel and tourism today than it has been in decades.”

With him was British High Commission to Pakistan Christian Turner, who wrote “Bauhut Mubarak!” Twitter.

The inaugural flight took off from Manchester Airport on Thursday.

In a video posted on Twitter, Turner said there was no British carrier flying to Pakistan 18 months ago and "now we have over 20 direct flights a week".

"This is a sign of real confidence in Pakistan," he continued. "Our 1.6 billion British-Pakistanis are the heart of our dosti. They will now have more options to visit loved ones, build ties and boost trade. This will be good for tourism and business."

"When I arrived in Pakistan, you asked me to help change perceptions. A year on, despite the difficulties of COVID-19, we have changed travel advice, seen the return of England cricket to Pakistan, and now British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are flying direct."

"Kyun ke mushkil waqt mein dost hi dost ko agay le kar jata hai [Because friends uplift each other in difficult times]," said the British official. "Pakistan-UK dosti zindabad!"

Founder Virgin Group Richard Branson said he was thrilled that Pakistan is one of the first few countries where the Virgin Atlantic had launched flights following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Branson regretted not being on the first flight. "This is the first inaugural flight that I have missed," he said, thanking Pakistani authorities, British High Commission, and Virgin's teams to help set up "in record time".

"I have to see you very soon!" he added.

 

[MenInG]

British airline Virgin Atlantic announced on Monday that it would be suspending services to Pakistan.

In a press release, the airline said it was ceasing operations between London, and Lahore and Islamabad.

“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. Following this review, it is with regret that we’ve taken the difficult decision to suspend our services between London Heathrow and Pakistan,” the press release quoted a spokesperson as saying.

The spokesperson said this was not a decision that was “taken lightly” and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

DAWN

 

[KingKhanWC]

Sad to hear. Members of my family have travelled to Pak via Virgin, the service was great.

This will mean higher priced tickets possibly and less direct flights from UK to Pak.

Imo Virgin realised corruption has returned to Pak under this new government along with them being incompetent.

 

[Varun]

Haha, they had to do this on Valentine's Day! #TongueInCheek

 

[the Great Khan]

Sad to hear. Members of my family have travelled to Pak via Virgin, the service was great.

This will mean higher priced tickets possibly and less direct flights from UK to Pak.

Imo Virgin realised corruption has returned to Pak under this new government along with them being incompetent.

My mum has a return ticket and is there right now. I'll have to ring her and see what Virgin are offering their customers.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

The route wasn't sustainable. They already canned the route from Manchester last year.

PIA will be allowed to fly again this Summer and would have further reduced any demand for Virgin.

 

[KingKhanWC]

My mum has a return ticket and is there right now. I'll have to ring her and see what Virgin are offering their customers.

The route wasn't sustainable. They already canned the route from Manchester last year.

PIA will be allowed to fly again this Summer and would have further reduced any demand for Virgin.

Hope there isnt too much of an issue.

There is no way I would use PIA even for local flights when crooks and theives are in charge. I will go via Dubai on Emirates.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Hope there isnt too much of an issue.

There is no way I would use PIA even for local flights when crooks and theives are in charge. I will go via Dubai on Emirates.

Most people are happy flying Dubai, Qatar, Turkish airlines etc and spending a couple of days there before going to Pakistan.

I don't think a PIA flight will be too attractive for many younger Pakistanis but they may have some demand if they are a lot cheaper than the alternative. The fares are astonishing at the moment.