Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plans to operate direct weekly flights between Islamabad and Beijing this month after receiving authorization from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
Currently, it runs a weekly flight on the Islamabad-Xian-Beijing-Islamabad route, which departs from the federal capital every Saturday and reaches Xian on the same day, after which it goes to Beijing on Sunday and takes off for Islamabad.
As per the reports, CAAC has granted approval to PIA to begin its weekly flight on the mentioned route and it has requested the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to direct PIA to submit schedule details in order to receive timely clearance.
The new route will facilitate passengers, particularly Pakistani students living in China, and will also contribute to business-related trips after China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) becomes fully operational.
Note that PIA also runs a direct weekly flight between Islamabad and Chengdu every Wednesday, which was launched in March this year.
Earlier, PIA announced that it will resume its flight operations to Turkey on 14 November. In this regard, a PIA spokesperson stated that PIA’s Airbus A320 will depart from Islamabad and Lahore airports to Istanbul.
The move will generate significant revenue for the national airline, which has been struggling to cut down its operational expenses.
