PIA – Pakistan International Airlines – the national flag carrier of Pakistan has decided to suspend all direct flight services between the United Kingdom and Pakistan. The airline was banned in JULY 2020 from the EU with its Air operators licence revoked due to safety concerns. Since August 2022 PIA have been operating direct charter flights between the two countries via a third party operator. PIA will operate its final direct flights from London Heathrow to Islamabad on 25th Nov 2022. It is not known at this stage if the decision to suspend direct flights is indefinate or temporary. It is understsood negotiations are ongoing between the Pakistan CAA and the EU regulators regarding the EU ban on Pakistani airlines.
Flights with PIA from the UK to Pakistan will continue via a code share agreement between PIA and Turkish Airlines, this will enable passengers to continue booking PIA. Although not direct operations, it is understood the connection time in Istanbul is between 2 -3 hours depending on the schedules which vary slightly by season.