Virgin Atlantic Atlantic airlines at an airport in Britain. File

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

British airline Virgin Atlantic will commence its flight operation for Pakistan from Dec.13 as the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has approved its flight operation to and from the country.

The PCAA granted approval to Virgin Atlantic to start its flight operation in response to its request made on Dec.2. Virgin Atlantic is scheduled to start its flight operations for Islamabad and Lahore. The airliner will use Airbus A-332 aircraft to continue a weekly eight-flight operation to the two cities.

According to the schedule approved by the PCAA, the first passenger flight VS365 will take off from London on Dec.13 and land at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport on Dec.14.

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The airline will operate four weekly flights between London and Lahore and three flights between London and Islamabad. Before starting its flight operation to Pakistan, Virgin Atlantic will operate a cargo flight VS364 from England to Pakistan on Dec.7.

The airline had reportedly sought permission to operate flights from Manchester and London. The airline had earlier announced three routes to Pakistan from the UK - London-Lahore, London-Islamabad and Manchester-Islamabad. The federal cabinet had given approval to the airline to operate direct flights between Pakistan and London.