{"id":644335,"date":"2019-06-03T10:34:44","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T10:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"
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British Airways on Monday resumed flight operations to Pakistan, more than ten years after halting the service in the wake of a suicide bombing attack that had killed more than 50 people at Islamabad\u2019s Marriott Hotel.<\/p>\n

Footage of a Boeing 787 jet with some 240 passengers on board landing at the capital\u2019s new airport was aired by local TV channels.<\/p>\n

Several government ministers and the British high commissioner were on hand to welcome the flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy that British Airways has landed in Pakistan after 11 years,\u2019\u2019 Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said in a video message.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s Pakistan is more safe, secure and peaceful,\u2019\u2019 Khan said.<\/p>\n

The British carrier had suspended operations in 2008 after the deadly Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad in which over 50 people were killed.<\/p>\n

The security situation has since improved due to successive military operations against the militants.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain\u2019s flag carrier is back,\u2019\u2019 Thomas Drew, the British High Commissioner in Islamabad, said in a video message shared via Twitter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is of course a tribute to the great improvement to the security situation in Pakistan in recent years,\u2019\u2019 Drew added.<\/p>\n

British Airways will be operating three flights a week to Pakistan, said Farah Hussain, a spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).<\/p>\n

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