British Airways to bring back flights to Islamabad

British Airways will resume flights from London to Islamabad next summer.

Flights from Heathrow to the new Islamabad International Airport will begin on June 2, 2019 and run three times a week on a three-class Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

British Airways began flights to the Pakistani capital in 1976, but suspended them in 2008 after a suicide bomb at a Marriott hotel killed more than 50 people and injured around 250, including six Britons.

BA is the first western airline to resume flights to Islamabad following the new airport opening. Pakistan International Airlines is currently the only airline to run nonstop flights from the UK, with routes from Manchester, Birmingham and Heathrow. It began a short-lived route from Leeds Bradford in 2013.

Robert Williams, British Airways Head of Sales for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, said: “It’s exciting to be flying between Islamabad and Heathrow from next year, which we believe will be particularly popular with the British Pakistani community who want to visit, or be visited by, their relatives.

“On the route, customers will enjoy the very best in flying. Not only is it being operated on our newest long-haul aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but it will also be landing in to the new airport in Islamabad, which opened earlier this year.”

Thomas Drew CMG, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, said: “The links between Britain and Pakistan are already extraordinary – from culture and cricket, to people, politics and education.

“I see this launch as a vote of confidence in the future of those links – and, of course, a reflection of the great improvements in the security situation in Pakistan in recent years.”

The UK government still warns of a high risk of terrorism and kidnap in Islamabad.

BA’s tickets are on sale now, with return fares from £499 for World Traveller, £773 for World Traveller Plus and £1,799 for Club World.

Flights will run:

Other new BA routes next year include Ljubljana in Slovenia, Montpellier in the south of France and Charleston.

britishairways.com