By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines operated its first direct flight to London in six years on Sunday, sending flight PK-785 from Islamabad International Airport to Heathrow as the newly privatized national carrier pushes to rebuild its international network.
The Airbus carrying 325 passengers left at 1:19 p.m. local time, 29 minutes behind its scheduled 12:50 p.m. departure, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the airport. Defence Secretary Lt. Gen. (ret.) Muhammad Ali, British High Commissioner Jane Marriott and Arif Habib, chairman of the consortium that acquired PIA in last year’s auction, jointly cut the ribbon, according to state television.
The flight marks the resumption of direct Pakistan-London service after Britain banned PIA in 2020. That prohibition followed the May 2020 crash of a PIA Airbus A320 in Karachi that killed 97 people and triggered allegations of widespread irregularities in pilot licensing. The US and European Union imposed similar bans.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif announced on March 26 that direct flights to Heathrow would begin from Islamabad on March 29 and from Lahore the following day. PIA received regulatory clearance last September to resume UK operations after a nearly five-year absence. It restarted service to Manchester in October 2025 with four weekly flights and has since maintained that schedule.
Sunday’s departure initiates four weekly flights to London’s Heathrow Terminal 4, with three departing from Islamabad and one from Lahore, the airline said. PIA added in a statement that “PIA’s first flight PK-785, carrying 325 passengers, departed from Islamabad to London.” Ali told those gathered at the ceremony that the direct flights would “further strengthen relations between the government and the people of the two countries.” The airline said it is “committed to providing direct travel facilities to over 1.6 million Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom.”
The resumption caps a year of transition for PIA. Once the state-owned flag carrier, the airline was sold to a business consortium led by Habib in 2025. Habib has repeatedly pledged to expand the fleet, upgrade passenger services and open new international routes to serve a broader customer base. PIA’s return to the U.K. market began with the Manchester route last October. The addition of London — and the forthcoming Lahore flight on Monday — gives the carrier a stronger foothold in a market long served by competitors during the ban. The airline had indicated plans to add Birmingham as well once operations stabilized.
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