ISLAMABAD: Renowned British airline Virgin Atlantic has been granted permission to start flight operations to and from Pakistan and will commence from December 13.
Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) granted approval to Virgin Atlantic to start its flight operation in response to its request made on December 2.
Virgin Atlantic is scheduled to start its flight operations for Islamabad and Lahore. The airliner will use a modern Airbus A-332 aircraft to operate weekly eight flights to the two cities.
According to the schedule approved by the PCAA, the first passenger flight VS365 will take off from London on December 13 and arrive at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore the next day.
The airline will operate four weekly flights between London and Lahore and three flights between London and Islamabad. Virgin Atlantic will also operate a cargo flight from England to Pakistan on December 7.
The airline had reportedly sought permission to operate flights from Manchester and London. The aviation authority did not permit the airline to operate flights from Manchester.
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 from London.
