ISLAMABAD – British airline Virgin Atlantic has announced that it is suspending services between the United Kingdom and Pakistan.
The British airline cited making a few changes over ‘low yield operations’ as the reason behind the closure. The decision comes just two years after the airline started service between the Heathrow and Islamabad and Lahore.
The Virgin Atlantic started its operation when the Covid restrictions hampered the routine operation of airlines in traditional markets in the US and other nations due to social distancing protocols.
A spokesperson of Virgin Atlantic announced the airline’s decision ‘with regret’ to shut the Pakistan-UK operations.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused,” Virgin Atlantic said in a statement, as it thanked Pakistani customers, teams, partners and the authorities for their support over the past two years.”
The spokesman elaborated that suspending services to South Asian country will ensure its resources are ‘utilised in the most optimal way to achieve operational resilience’.
Virgin Atlantic’s final flight would take off on July 9th as per the schedule announced by the company.
The closure of operations comes amid ban on Pakistan International Airlines regarding operating flights to the United Kingdom and Europe in wake of the fake degrees scandal.
