By ‘Pakistan Times’ Special Correspondent

KARACHI: Pakistan's fast-developing popular private sector airlines, AirBlue has announced plans to begin its first long-haul international operation between Islamabad and Manchester, United Kingdom from the middle of May, 2007.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Air Blue, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told ‘Pakistan Times’ [ISSN-certified Daily Web Newspaper] on Saturday that the airline had been evaluating proposal to operate to UK for over a year and has now completed all necessary official requirements to launch the flights.

The airline first obtained official permission from the government for such operations to the UK and formal permission was obtained from the UK Department of Transportation, he added.

The decision to start operation to Manchester was taken in the wake of large strength of Pakistani community in the region, Abbasi said.

Negotiations are in process with Manchester Airport Group on details of flight operation, which include slot timing, handling, engineering, catering and other allied support functions, he remarked.

With a highly comfortable fleet of modern aircraft including six 320A and 321A Airbus planes, AirBlue operates more than 30 flights a day to seven domestic destinations and three daily flights to Dubai.

Significantly, the AirBlue has operated more than 10,000 flights in the last 30 months carrying over 2 million passengers on its network with revenues in excess of over Rs12 billion.

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