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ANALYZE THE LAUNCHING OF FLIGHTS BYBRITISH AIRWAYS
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AND VIRGIN ATLANTIC ONPAKISTAN - UK ROUTES AND ITS
IMPACT ONCURRENT COMPETITORS

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Wahaj Hafeez
SID:61578

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After analyzing the flights between Pakistan and United Kingdom following is my
observation

What a fascinating time in the industry. Rather than seeing airlines slowly add back
suspended routes, we’re instead seeing airlines launch some surprising new routes.

A few weeks ago Virgin Atlantic announced plans to launch flights to Pakistan. Well, these
flights are now on sale, and I wanted to share some observations I find to be interesting.

Virgin Atlantic’s new Pakistan routes

Virgin Atlantic will be launching flights between the UK and Pakistan as of December 2020.
Not only will the airline start flying to Pakistan, but it will operate three routes, including:

 London Heathrow to Islamabad

 London Heathrow to Lahore
 Manchester to Islamabad

These flights are now on sale, so I wanted to take a look at the schedules, equipment, and
award redemption opportunities for these flights.

As you’ll see below, the Islamabad flights are clearly scheduled around connections to the
US, while the Lahore flight isn’t. It’s also interesting how the Islamabad flights have identical
schedules (with minor frequency variations).

Virgin Atlantic’s London to Islamabad flight

As of December 12, 2020, Virgin Atlantic will fly 3x weekly from London to Islamabad, with
the following schedule:

London to Islamabad departing 12:30PM arriving 1:00AM (+1 day) [Mon, Wed, Sat]
Islamabad to London departing 3:30AM arriving 7:00AM [Tue, Thu, Sun]

Virgin Atlantic will use a Boeing 787-9 for the route. The flight will cover a distance of 3,750
miles in each direction, and is blocked at 7hr30min eastbound and 8hr30min westbound.

Virgin Atlantic’s London to Lahore flight

As of December 13, 2020, Virgin Atlantic will fly 4x weekly from London to Lahore, with the
following schedule:

London to Lahore departing 9:50PM arriving 10:20AM (+1 day) [Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun]
Lahore to London departing 1:25PM arriving 5:00PM [Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat]

Virgin Atlantic will use a Boeing 787-9 for the route. The flight will cover a distance of 3,903
miles in each direction, and is blocked at 7hr30min eastbound and 8hr35min westbound.
Virgin Atlantic’s Manchester to Islamabad flight

As of December 10, 2020, Virgin Atlantic will fly 4x weekly from Manchester to Islamabad,
with the following schedule:

Manchester to Islamabad departing 12:35PM arriving 1:00AM (+1 day) [Tue, Thu, Fri, Sun]
Islamabad to Manchester departing 3:30AM arriving 7:00AM [Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat]

Virgin Atlantic will use a Boeing 787-9 for the route. The flight will cover a distance of 3,819
miles in each direction, and is blocked at 7hr25min eastbound and 8hr30min westbound.

Virgin Atlantic’s Boeing 787-9

All three Pakistan routes will be operated by Virgin Atlantic’s fleet of Boeing 787-9s. Virgin’s
787-9s feature a total of 258 seats, including:

 31 business class seats

 35 premium economy seats
 192 economy seats

Unfortunately Virgin Atlantic’s 787-9s don’t feature the new Upper Class seats, which are
exclusively available on A350-1000s. Rather the 787-9s have herringbone seats, in a 1-1-1
configuration, facing the aisle.

Redeeming miles on Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has plenty of award seats on its new flights to Pakistan, and award pricing
through Flying Club is identical to Virgin Atlantic’s India flights. You can expect to pay the
following number of miles one-way between the UK and Pakistan through Virgin Atlantic
Flying Club:

 Economy — 10,000 miles (off-peak), 20,000 miles (peak)

 Premium economy — 17,500 miles (off-peak), 27,500 miles (peak)
 Business class — 37,500 miles (off-peak), 47,500 miles (peak)

Those mileage amounts don’t include taxes and carrier imposed surcharges, which can be
significant on Virgin Atlantic. For example, a one-way London to Islamabad business class
flight comes with 371 GBP (~478 USD) in taxes, fees, and carrier surcharges.
 BRITISH AIRWAYS

There are a few things I find especially interesting about this announcement.

First of all, Pakistan has in general been doing well as an aviation market in recent years.
We’ve seen many airlines add or resume flights to Pakistan. Specifically from the UK, we
saw British Airways resume flights to Islamabad in mid-2019. Now British Airways is also
adding flights from London to Lahore as of October, clearly trying to beat Virgin Atlantic to
the punch.

On top of that, keep in mind that Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been having
problems. The airline has been in the news for its “fake” pilots, and both European
Union and United States regulators have issued bans against the airline in recent months.

Lastly, Virgin Atlantic is following the industry trend whereby airlines aren’t necessarily
adding back the routes that they previously operated, but rather are adding new ones
altogether. Not only is Virgin Atlantic axing many of its existing routes, but the airline was
supposed to launch flights to Sao Paulo in March 2020, but plans for that have been
scrapped altogether.

Adding routes to Pakistan makes sense with the current environment. There’s a huge
Pakistani population in the UK, and travel for the purposes of visiting friends and relatives
will be the first to recover.

British Airways to rival Virgin on Lahore route

Just weeks after Virgin Atlantic unveiled plans to serve Lahore, Pakistan, British Airways has
signalled its intention to enter the market.

British Airways is adding a second destination in Pakistan to its international network from
next month, beginning flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and Lahore (LHE).

The one world alliance member will serve the route 4X-weekly on board Boeing 787-8
aircraft. The inaugural flight will depart Oct. 12.

Last month, it was learnt that British Airways was seeking permission from Pakistan Civil
Aviation Authority (PCAA) to start operating flights to Lahore, as a team of experts from the
airline visited Allama Iqbal International Airport to review arrangements made by the
airport management.

The airline had already sought confirmation from the airport management about routine
cleaning and precautionary measures against corona virus for safety of the crew and
passengers.
 Competitions analysis

BA and Virgin Atlantic will fight for market share between the UK and Pakistan, filling a gap
in the market left by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). PIA’s permission to fly to the UK
was suspended on June 30 when EASA withdrew its third-country operator safety
certificate. The certificate was taken away after Pakistan’s aviation authorities grounded 262
Pakistani pilots whose licences were described as “dubious” and may be fake or falsified.

OAG data shows that PIA offered 383,571 seats on nonstop flights between the UK and
Pakistan in 2019, giving the airline a 95% capacity share of direct seats. British Airways
provided 19,474 seats to take the other 5% after restarting direct service to Pakistan in June
2019 following a 10-year absence.

Although PIA has recently been approved to reinstate flights to Birmingham (BHX) and MAN
on board aircraft chartered from Hi Fly, the carrier’s 3X-weekly LHR-LHE is among the
routes which remains suspended. O&D traffic between London and Lahore totalled 195,155
two-way passengers in 2019, a rise of 3% on the previous 12 months.