British airline Virgin Atlantic announced on Monday that it would be suspending services to Pakistan.

In a press release, the airline said it was ceasing operations between London, and Lahore and Islamabad.

“As we continue to ramp up our flying programme in 2023, we’ve taken the opportunity to review our entire network and decided to make a few changes. Following this review, it is with regret that we’ve taken the difficult decision to suspend our services between London Heathrow and Pakistan,” the press release quoted a spokesperson as saying.

The spokesperson said this was not a decision that was “taken lightly” and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

“We would like to wholeheartedly thank everyone in Pakistan; our customers, teams, partners and the authorities for their support over the past two years,” the spokesperson said.

It added that the airline would continue to operate between London and Lahore until May 1, and between London and Islamabad until July 9.

The airline said it would communicate with any customers due to fly after the aforementioned dates as well as those who would be affected by cancellations about providing options such as “rebooking, where applicable, or a full refund”.

According to the press release, the final Pakistan flight dates are:

• LHR-LHE VS364 departs April 30 at 21:55
• LHE-LHR VS365 departs May 1 at 12:25
• LHR-ISB VS378 departs July 8 at 21:55
• ISB-LHR VS379 departs July 9 at 12:40

Virgin Atlantic had commenced its flight operations for the country on December 13, 2020, after approval by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority. At the time, the airline operated three routes from Pakistan to the United Kingdom: two from Islamabad to London and Manchester and one from Lahore to London.

However, the airline announced last year in September that it would not operate flights between Manchester and Islamabad during the winter and called it a “business decision”.