Pakistan welcomed the first British Airways (BA) flight onMonday after a decade-long absence due to security fears, with ministers sayingit will boost business, trade and tourism between the South Asian nation andBritain.
BA’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed in Islamabad from Heathrowairport to begin a three flights per week service, Pakistan’s Civil Aviationspokesperson Farah Hussain said. High-ranking Pakistani and British embassyofficials welcomed the flight, which returned to Britain the same day.
“With this kind of connectivity that we now have,British investors will find it so easy, Pakistani diaspora will find it veryeasy, our own exporters, our own business people will now have a greatconnectivity of going from here to London,” said Pakistan’s trade andindustry minister Abdul Razaq Dawood.
“From London the whole word is open to us.”
British High Commissioner Thomas Drew and BA’s ChiefCommercial Officer Andrew Brem called on Prime Minister Imran Khan, who saidthe resumption of BA flights to Pakistan will boost tourism in the country andencourage increased trade and investment.
“The links between Britain and Pakistan are alreadyextra-ordinary from commerce, cricket and culture to people, politics andeducation,” Drew added.
“This launch is a vote of confidence in the future ofthose links.”
BA halted service to Pakistan following the 2008 MarriottHotel bombing in the capital Islamabad which took place during a period ofdevastating Islamist militant violence in Pakistan.
Security has improved since, with militant attacks sharplydown in the mainly Muslim country of 208 million people, reviving Pakistan as adestination for tourist and investors.
At present, only loss-making national carrier PakistanInternational Airlines (PIA) flies directly from Pakistan to Britain, but itsageing fleet of planes is a frequent source of complaints by passengers.
BA’s Brem said the airline decided to resume operations dueto increasing demand and the improved security situation in Pakistan.
“The priority for us is to fly where our passengerswant to go and we absolutely had a demand to travel to Islamabad,” Bremtold a news conference.