Islamabad airport witnesses rush of travellers to UK due to April 9 deadline

E-Paper | May 01, 2026

Islamabad airport witnesses rush of travellers to UK due to April 9 deadline

Mohammad Asghar Published April 9, 2021

There was a sudden increase in the number of travellers at the Islamabad International Airport on Thursday who wanted to reach the United Kingdom before the deadline of April 9. — AFP/File

RAWALPINDI: There was a sudden increase in the number of travellers at the Islamabad International Airport on Thursday who wanted to reach the United Kingdom before the deadline of April 9 as the Pakistan International Airlines completed its flight operations with 13 chartered planes to send about 3,000 Pakistanis.

The PIA arranged chartered flights from different countries on short notice to transport thousands of Pakistani migrants to the UK before the deadline, which is 8pm on Friday according to local time. The UK government put Pakistan on the “red list” of countries on the advice of health experts and set a deadline for Pakistani migrants to go back to the UK.

Due to European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s restrictions, PIA has to charter flights to repatriate Pakistani migrants, as PIA aircraft remain parked at airports due to the restrictions.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2021

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Inam Akhtar

Apr 09, 2021 03:42pm

This is very desperate time for expat brits stuck in Pakistan, but for thousands of people they cannot afford to comeback after the ban, hence they have to quarantine in hotel for 10 nights, plus have 2 covid test done plus pay for meals so overal cost would be £2200 per adult! on top of this the flight prices have quadrupled people were having to pay 200,000 plus for signal flight this is extortionate and the airlines should be shamed of themselves taking advantage of the situation. Disgusting!

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