Surprising? London Heathrow Will Welcome These 2 Airlines On The Same Day In 2026

On March 29, London Heathrow will welcome Pakistan International Airlines and ITA Airways, both of which previously served the UK’s busiest airport. This specific date is significant as it is when northern carriers switch to summer schedules based on IATA slot seasons. Alaska Airlines will arrive on May 22.

Everyone knows that Heathrow is massively slot-constrained and expensive to use. These factors usually keep out airlines, which generally serve London Gatwick, in particular, as a result. Of course, exceptions exist, with Air Peace, IndiGo, and Riyadh Air starting Heathrow flights in October 2025. Access is usually from leasing slots or taking them back, but other, less common ways exist.

PIA Returns To Heathrow On March 29

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Until the summer of 2025, Pakistani airlines were banned from flying to the UK. Following the lifting of the ban, PIA, the nation’s flag carrier, added flights from Manchester to Islamabad. They resumed in late October. This was a huge deal, as Islamabad is overwhelmingly the largest South Asian market from the Northwest England airport.

With the return of flights from Islamabad to Heathrow, PIA will now have two routes to the UK. The carrier’s schedule submission to Cirium Diio shows it’ll serve the market four times a week on the 329-seat Boeing 777-200ER. According to ch-aviation, it has eight Boeing 777-200ERs (some frames have 315 seats). Three frames are adorned with a special decal: I Love Manchester, I Love Paris, and I Love Toronto. Will I Love London be added?

PIA’s last regular Heathrow service was in 2020. Its grounding contributed greatly to British Airways and Virgin Atlantic’s decision to begin Heathrow-Islamabad flights. Virgin pulled out of Pakistan completely, while BA shifted its Islamabad route to Gatwick. It decided it needed higher-capacity 777-200ERs with lower seat-mile costs to help offset the lower yields, while using Heathrow slots for more premium services.

PIA was able to return to Heathrow not just because of the lifting of the ban, but also from taking back slots that were leased to Turkish Airlines. Flightradar24 shows the carrier flies through Russian airspace to/from Europe, so flights will cover around 3,275 nautical miles (6,065 km) each way.

Hang On: Why Heathrow-Islamabad?

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For one real reason: it’s a huge market. In the 12 months to October 2025, booking data shows that Heathrow-Islamabad had 235,000 round-trip local passengers (644 daily). It was Heathrow’s fourth most popular South Asian market, after Delhi (855,000), Mumbai (666,000), and Colombo (255,000).

Given the lack of nonstop flights from Heathrow (remember, BA runs from Gatwick), most people flew Qatar Airways via Doha, Saudia via Jeddah/Riyadh, Etihad via Abu Dhabi, Emirates via Dubai, and Turkish Airlines via Istanbul. They have benefited nicely from the lack of PIA.

Islamabad accounted for about 43% of all Heathrow-Pakistan passengers in the examined period, largely as many British Pakistanis come from that area of the country. It was a meaningfully larger marker than Heathrow to Lahore (174,000) and Karachi (96,000).

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ITA Returns On The Same Day

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ITA is the successor to Alitalia and is Italy’s flag carrier. It pulled out of Heathrow in March 2024, switching its Rome Fiumicino service to London City instead. It started Rome-Gatwick flights in October 2024. Gatwick service ended in September 2025, while it will now cease flying from the Italian capital to City in March 2026.

It has been a never-ending merry-go-round. As announced in late October, it will return to Heathrow on March 29, with slots leased from its new part-parent, the Lufthansa Group. It’ll operate double daily from Fiumicino on the 180-seat A320neo. When it last flew Rome-Heathrow, it only had a daily service.