{
  "id": 5054766,
  "title": "PIA to increase weekly flights to London from four to seven from Oct 27",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/pia-to-increase-weekly-flights-to-london-from-four-to-seven-from-oct-5054766",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-02T08:46:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dawn",
    "slug": "dawn",
    "url": "https://www.dawn.com/news/2026866/pia-to-increase-weekly-flights-to-london-from-four-to-seven-from-oct-27"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced on Wednesday that it will increase its weekly flights to London from four to seven starting October 27, according to a statement issued by the airline. Under the revised schedule, five flights will depart from Islamabad while two will operate on the Lahore-London route. PIA attributes this increase in flight frequency to growing passenger confidence and rising demand. The statement also notes that Pakistani flights had been barred from European Union, United Kingdom, and US destinations since June 2020, following a crash in Karachi that claimed nearly 100 lives. The European Union Air Safety Agency had imposed the ban due to safety concerns, and this restriction followed then-aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan's comments on the legitimacy of pilots' licenses. The EU lifted the ban on PIA operations in the region on November 28, 2024. In July 2025, the UK removed Pakistan from its Air Safety List, paving the way for Pakistani airlines to apply for flight permissions in Britain. PIA officially resumed direct flights to Manchester in September 2025, and subsequently, direct flights to London were reinstated in March of the same year.",
  "summary": "Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday said that it would be increasing its weekly flights to London from four to seven starting October 27. Under the new schedule, five flights would depart from Islamabad while two would operate on the Lahore-London route, the airline said in a statement. “The increase in the number of flights reflects passenger confidence and rising demand,” the…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Dawn - Pakistan",
        "title": "PIA to increase weekly flights to London from four to seven from Oct 27",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/pia-to-increase-weekly-flights-to-london-from-four-to-seven-from-oct",
        "published": "2026-09-02T08:46:52.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}