New Islamabad to Manchester route begins

A private Pakistan-base airline known as AirBlue, began its first scheduled flights between Islamabad and Manchester earlier this week.

The airline’s inaugural flight launched an Airbus A321 from Pakistan’s capital on June 1. The aircraft has a 146 seat capacity in economy class and has 26 business class seats.

The service is initially scheduled to operate four times a week. After the first month, the airline will add another weekly flight until they operate a daily service during the summer months.  The flight to England usually lasts approximately nine and a half hours.

Syed Nasir Ali, AirBlue’s commercial director, told one Pakistan newspaper that he hoped the additional flights between countries would help strengthen and build the relationship between Pakistan and the UK.

Flights will leave from Manchester at 21.00 and arrive the next morning in Islamabad. Outgoing flights will depart from Pakistan in the afternoon at 14.00 and arrive in Manchester that night at 19.30. A small discount is available for those who make their bookings online.

The majority of AirBlue’s current routes are domestic, although the airline, which was founded in 2004, does fly to Dubai as well.

www.airblue.com