UK Aviation Team to Visit Pakistan in January 2025 for Resumption of Pakistani Airlines Flights

[AviationLover2020]

UK Department for Transport (DfT) visit to Pakistan for Pakistan CAA audit report/result expected in 1 to 2 months.

Resumption of Pakistani airlines flights to & from UK expected from June this year.

Info source: https://e.jang.com.pk/detail/845215

I wonder whether the PIA team that's rushed to London at first priority is heading back now then?

[Usman123]

Thats good to have time to revive BGJ, BGY,BMG & BID

[planefan2003]

Thats good to have time to revive BGJ, BGY,BMG & BID

They most likely won’t

[AP- BID]

And what makes you say that they won't revive BGJ,BGY,BID,BMG?

[ba260]

I hope British Airways responds and increases service within Pakistan, versus maintaining the 3 weekly flights they operate from LGW. BA should be back to serving Pakistan on daily basis.

[AP-BGY]

And what makes you say that they won't revive BGJ,BGY,BID,BMG?

It’s his over-confidence that comes from nowhere

[planefan2003]

And what makes you say that they won't revive BGJ,BGY,BID,BMG?

It’s his over-confidence that comes from nowhere

Don’t worry we will come back to this when flights resume and see

[AP- BID]

And what makes you say that they won't revive BGJ,BGY,BID,BMG?

It’s his over-confidence that comes from nowhere

Don’t worry we will come back to this when flights resume and see

Hey man like I'm only asking that why do you think what you think I mean it's more than fair right?

[haroon_ek]

Thats good to have time to revive BGJ, BGY,BMG & BID

If PIA thinks to resume AMS or FCO or FRA or MXP then it won't be a bad thinking to revive them....

[faisal-777]

I hope British Airways responds and increases service within Pakistan, versus maintaining the 3 weekly flights they operate from LGW. BA should be back to serving Pakistan on daily basis.

How could that happen? PIA starting means less PAX for BA not more.

[Badar42]

I hope British Airways responds and increases service within Pakistan, versus maintaining the 3 weekly flights they operate from LGW. BA should be back to serving Pakistan on daily basis.

Doubt it, currently nothing is holding them back from operating daily flight but instead they moved the flights to Gatwick.To top it off they scrapped lgw-man flight so noe no real chance of northern pax to use BA.
I'm actually surprised it's still operating the route .

[Averagespotter]

I hope British Airways responds and increases service within Pakistan, versus maintaining the 3 weekly flights they operate from LGW. BA should be back to serving Pakistan on daily basis.

Virgin Atlantic stopped coming to Pakistan as well, presumably because they couldn't fill their business class cabins which makes them real money. BA is probably suffering with the same issue, which is why they moved to Gatwick. Pakistan barely has any demand for business/premium travel which is why many airlines don't operate here (added the complexities of operations to pakistan).

[London Flyer]

I hope British Airways responds and increases service within Pakistan, versus maintaining the 3 weekly flights they operate from LGW. BA should be back to serving Pakistan on daily basis.

Doubt it, currently nothing is holding them back from operating daily flight but instead they moved the flights to Gatwick.To top it off they scrapped lgw-man flight so noe no real chance of northern pax to use BA.
I'm actually surprised it's still operating the route .

Severe equipment shortage is likely preventing them from operating more often. The fact that BA didn’t cut the route despite having operational issues is a real positive. The high density 777s that are Gatwick based operate ISB hence the LGW service. Once BA’s fleet management issues are resolved I would expect BA to move back to LHR (or keep it at LGW and reinstate its daily JFK service which was cut due to the issues and possibly MAN.

There is more than enough capacity from ISB for several airlines to competitively operate LHR. Further greater direct flights typically lead to growth in passenger traffic

[ba260]

Virgin and BA serving Lahore and Islamabad was mainly because of the pandemic they couldn't fly a plane full of people to the traditional destinations due to lockdowns. Pakistan was one of the few countries still open, in the aviation business you need to keep your planes in the air to make money and not parked. So that made sense why they've started Pakistan operations. As the lockdowns have been removed, Virgin decided to use the excuse of repatriation problems of payments of why they've pulled out. In reality once they pulled out, they moved those aircrafts to markets where they can make more money.

BA still flies to PK from LGW and 3 times a week, reason is that aircraft manufacturers aren't producing planes fast enough, and they rather allocate their planes to market where they can make much money. That is the simple reason. Pre pandemic BA was serving Islamabad 5 to 6 times a week from LHR.

Pakistani diaspora in the UK is now wealthy diaspora and many people will rather fly nonstop on this sector vs making a stop, doesn't matter if that's BA, Virgin, PIA, or any other carrier operating this route. Also, diaspora is now wealthy, many can afford and even prefer business class, especially the elder folks as they want to travel in comfort. Though overall Pakistan is still a price sensitive market, compared to other markets across the World, and we don't receive that premium market compared to cities like Delhi, Shanghai, Singapore, New York, and etc. I know people that will fly 2 stops connections between Pakistan and UK because they got better deal, I rather take 1 stop or nonstop considering the distance isn't much.

Another reason that western carriers face an issue when operating to Pakistan is the unions of pilots and flight attendants.
 
If PK or any carriers starts operations between Pakistan and UK, it would obviously raise alarm bells to BA as right now they're in a monopoly, obviously they wouldn't want to lose traffic to another competitor, rather they would rather push them out of the market. I would hope that BA increases their frequencies or do anything to make themselves more competitive to retain market share. I guess we will have to wait and see when the Pakistani carriers get permission back into the UK market to see how BA reacts, hopefully it's positive and they grow and not pull out of Pakistan.

[faisal-777]

I hope British Airways responds and increases service within Pakistan, versus maintaining the 3 weekly flights they operate from LGW. BA should be back to serving Pakistan on daily basis.

Virgin Atlantic stopped coming to Pakistan as well, presumably because they couldn't fill their business class cabins which makes them real money. BA is probably suffering with the same issue, which is why they moved to Gatwick. Pakistan barely has any demand for business/premium travel which is why many airlines don't operate here (added the complexities of operations to pakistan).

Last year i got upgraded 2 times and barely saw any empty seat in business class on flights to/from PK, with mostly appearing as if they had booked it themselves. The business class is not the reason - there are wealthy people in both directions enough to fill the business class.