BEIJING: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is set to start direct weekly passenger flights on Beijing-Islamabad-Beijing route by the end of October after an approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

At present, the national flag carrier is operating a weekly flight on Islamabad-Xian-Beijing-Islamabad sector. The PIA plane leaves Islamabad on Saturday and arrives in Xian the same day. After all the passengers disembark, the plane lands in Beijing on Sunday and leaves for Islamabad the same day.

However, considering that Pakistan enjoys the only all-weather strategic partnership with China and shared interest and cooperation in various areas, the CAAC has accorded approval to PIA to start direct weekly operations to and from Beijing, official sources said here on Thursday.

The CAAC has also asked the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to notify PIA to submit schedule filings for grant of timely approval.

The Islamabad-Beijing-Islamabad direct passenger flight will facilitate passengers especially living in the Chinese capital including officials, traders and students. The flight will also facilitate Chinese personnel working on different projects being completed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan.

A passenger who intends to leave for Islamabad from Beijing Capital Airport said that PIA is expanding its flights network for China and is providing more options to Pakistani and Chinese travellers to directly reach in different cities between China and Pakistan.

It may be mentioned here that PIA has also been operating direct weekly passenger flights between Islamabad and Chengdu, capital city of China’s Sichuan province on every Wednesday since March this year.

Earlier, the national flag carrier had increased discount for students from 10 percent to 15 percent and an additional 7 percent discount on surcharge making a total of around 22 percent on the flights between Pakistan and China.

The students who are returning to China or planning to go back home after completion of their education could take benefit from the discount.