Virgin Atlantic Announces Flights for Islamabad and Lahore from December

[PK.786]

This is very good news. Delta and virgin have USA to lhr market with over 40 flights a day I won't be surprised iv vs go daily to isb lhe with in a year. They can hope for connection pax from USA and local people from UK

Uk school holidays plus end Ramadan its mostly all year traffic
May June might be quite
The rest will busy as

[TheAnalyst]

Actually, the international market in Pakistan has been growing quite significant. PIA had in particular enjoyed a huge market share. So with the gap that PIA is leaving it is a good move by Virgin. However, pakistan also needs to have a good domestic market. Maybe Airblue or even Serene need to start to think how they can strenghten their marketshare domestic and work with international airlines to offer other pakistan destinations as well.

[Hassan777]

Wonder what equipment will be used, really hope they use the A350s , Virgin’s operation may be a slight benefit to PIA if they use A350s since it may be possible PIA ends up with the technical handling since It’s already handling SV’s 777 and Qatar’s B777,787,A330 and A350, also heard some rumors regarding BA using PIA’s engineers for their 787s line maintenance.

[baberblues]

In regards to the poster above, I know the Virgin have a few A350 which are economy heavy (im sure either one has been delivered or the fleet will be delivered) and these were for their orlando flights but I wonder to see what equipment they would use. Maybe B787s from London Heathrow and an A330 from Islamabad.

Also I am surprised why they did not look into the Manchester- Lahore Sector, that would've been a good shout.

[Hamad]

I expect that they will use the B787 for the beginning of their PK Operations.
If the demand is increasing they might upgrade to the A350 later.

[dragonfly]

MAN based 330 (Y heavy) deployment currently under consideration as follows:MAN-ISB-LHR-ISB-MAN,this way they will have a single dedicated aircraft covering ISB from MAN and LHR without the need to reposition aircraft between MAN and LHR.
LHE will see the 789.......VS very interested to work with SIKH pilgrim Organization globally to assist with travel to LHE and onwards to Kartarpur,LHE will be linked from MAN possible from summer 2021.

[Hassan777]

Post Covid aviation industry is looking really good in Pakistan,serene's expansion,Airblue's A320N and now this,hopefully PIA also grows after getting rid of the dead weight employees. Fingers crossed for 2021,may the industry prosper.

[baberblues]

Interesting dragonfly mentioning about Lahore starting 2021 from Manchester. You would think for a cash strapped airline, now is the time to monetise lahore to Manchester. These flights are money printing. Hopefully they do these sectors earlier

[dragonfly]

MAN-LHE-KTM/MAN-LHE-DEL/ATQ.... 5th freedom....Similar to PIA.... MAN JFK, post Covid/Brexit all possibilities are open to discussion.
Kartarpur is seen as a revenue magnet with the Sikh diaspora globally and opens up revenue potential with Virgins global network especially North America.
Don’t be surprised if a new ASA is signed with the U.K. post Brexit 31/12/20.

[baberblues]

MAN-LHE-KTM/MAN-LHE-DEL/ATQ.... 5th freedom....Similar to PIA.... MAN JFK, post Covid/Brexit all possibilities are open to discussion.
Kartarpur is seen as a revenue magnet with the Sikh diaspora globally and opens up revenue potential with Virgins global network especially North America.
Don’t be surprised if a new ASA is signed with the U.K. post Brexit 31/12/20.

LHE-KTM? LHE-DEL? never say never but the way the countries are going against one another i don't think that will ever be possible anytime soon. They already flight to DELHI so why fly Lahore - Delhi lol? There are other ways to transport between the 2 cities.

In other news, though, a MAN-LHE flight is needed and Virgin need to wake up on that.

[dragonfly]

KTM due to NO direct service with a sizeable Nepalese diaspora in the Midlands and trekking tours in both Pakistan and Nepal.
ATQ/DEL Overseas Sikh community can spend longer durations in Pakistan with daily visits and than continue to India.India only permits single day entry after a lot of red tape for overseas Sikhs who wish to visit due to high local demand.
All 3 stations are possible with or without a stopover in LHE.
Remember India also holds 5th freedom rights between LHR and JFK/YYZ which it currently does not use,I flew many a times from LHR to JFK/YYZ on AI 747-400s
Was surprised to hear that PIA held these slots at LHR and sold them To AI in the late 70s early 80s.

[Abbas Ali]

Pakistani cities of Islamabad and Lahore on Virgin Atlantic website:

Islamabad


Source: virginatlantic.comm

Lahore


Source: virginatlantic.comm

Abbas

[dabi]

VS Pakistan flights schedule has been announced :

MAN-ISB-MAN
Days 2467

Dep MAN 1235 Arr ISB 0100+1
Dep ISB 0330 Arr MAN 0700

LHR-LHE-LHR
Days 2457

Dep LHR 2150 Arr LHE 1020+1
Dep LHE 1325 Arr LHR 1700

LHR-ISB-LHR
Days 136

Dep LHR 1230 Arr ISB 0100+1
Dep ISB 0330 Arr LHR 0700

Source: Behramjee (Airliners.net)

[hammad786]

So from what it seems, it won't be uncommon to see two Virgin Atlantics at ISB at one time? Wow...

[dabi]

MAN-ISB and LHR-LHE begin 10th Dec, LHR-ISB begins 12th Dec

Source: Airliners.net