Last flight: British carrier Virgin Atlantic says goodbye to Pakistan skies

Virgin Atlantic has ended its operations in Pakistan with the last flight of the British carrier taking off from Islamabad to London’s Heathrow Airport on Sunday.
 

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said that the final flight left from Islamabad International Airport to London’s Heathrow Airport at 8 am (local time).
 

The airline began its operations at Islamabad airport in December 2020 with seven weekly flights. It initially operated four flights to Manchester and three to Heathrow, the Dawn reported.
 

Later, the airline reduced its services to only three weekly flights to Heathrow Airport. A spokesperson for Virgin expressed regret for taking the “difficult decision” to suspend the services between London's Heathrow and Pakistan. “Since commencing operations in December 2020, we have been proud to offer choice for customers travelling between London and Manchester in the United Kingdom, and Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan. During that time, we have also provided important cargo capacity, as well as delivering vital medical supplies,” he said.
 

“We would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone in Pakistan for their support over the past two years,” he added. It was not clear if the decision was linked to Pakistan’s economic woes. 
 

Fitch Ratings upgraded Pakistan on an improving funding environment following its initial loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month. 
 

“The upgrade reflects Pakistan’s improved external liquidity and funding conditions,” analysts led by Krisjanis Krustins wrote. They expect approval for staff-level agreement by the multilateral lender in July, helping unlock funds from bilateral creditors.
 

The upgrade to CCC long-term foreign currency issuer rating from CCC- earlier still denotes a very high level of default risk for the economy.