ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed confidence and said that the resumption of British Airways (BA) flights to Pakistan would help promote the country’s tourism potential.
British Airways (BA) Boeing 787 Dreamliner brought 240 passengers from Heathrow to Islamabad International Airport after a decade.
“The restart of British Airways flights to Pakistan is a good omen and it will also increase trade and investment activities,” Khan told BA’s Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Brem who called on him here in Islamabad.
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, and the PM’s Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood were also present in the meeting.
BA’s return to Pakistan marks a major vote of confidence from a Western airline after suspending operations due to security fears over a decade ago. The British carrier, which halted services in 2008 following the deadly Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad is running three weekly flights from London’s Heathrow airport to Islamabad.
Britain is home to more than a million people of Pakistani origin, making it the largest Pakistani diaspora community in Europe.
“Britain’s flag carrier is back. The two countries, so close in so many ways, take a step closer,” British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Thomas Drew, said in a statement. “It is of course tribute to the great improvements in the security situation in Pakistan in recent years.”
Andrew Brem expressed the desire to start its operations in other cities in Pakistan after Islamabad. He said his company wants to provide more facilities to passengers travelling from Pakistan. He said restarting flights in Pakistan is a big milestone in the company’s history.
