Virgin Atlantic is to suspend its services between London and Pakistan following a review of its network.
The UK-based carrier, which started flying to Pakistan during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in late 2020, said it had “decided to make a few changes” to its schedule.
Virgin will continue to operate services between London Heathrow and Lahore until 1 May and between London and Islamabad up to 9 July. The airline has already suspended the route between Manchester and Islamabad.
“It is with regret that we’ve taken the difficult decision to suspend our services between London Heathrow and Pakistan,” said a spokesperson for the airline.
“Since commencing operations in December 2020, we have been proud to offer choice for customers travelling between London and Manchester in the UK, and Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan.
“This is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’d like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Virgin Atlantic introduced flights to Pakistan at a time when the US border was still closed to international travellers. The routes to Pakistan were designed to target the visiting friends and relatives (VFR) market, which recovered more quickly than other parts of the travel market from the pandemic but the level of VFR demand is widely expected to fall back in 2023.
The airline is also taking advantage of the reopening of China’s borders this year with its Heathrow-Shanghai route due to restart on 1 May.