ISLAMABAD: Air Sial, one of Pakistan’s most prominent private airlines, this week launched its weekly flights from Islamabad to Riyadh, announcing that flights from the eastern city of Lahore to the Saudi capital will commence “soon.”

Thousands of Pakistanis visit the Kingdom every year where they live and work, and to perform the voluntary Umrah pilgrimage at some of the holiest sites in Islam in Makkah and Madinah.

Several Pakistani airlines offer direct flights to Jeddah, Riyadh and other Saudi cities at economical rates, promoting religious tourism and connectivity between the two close allies.

“Pakistani airline, Air Sial has commenced weekly flights to the Saudi capital Riyadh from Islamabad, with two flights per week,” Air Sial said in a statement it circulated among reporters on Sunday.

“The management has announced that flights to Lahore will also start soon.”

Pakistan’s Welfare Attaché, Rana Muhammad Masoom, inaugurated the airline’s regional office in Riyadh on Thursday, Air Sial said, adding that community members and Air Sial’s country and regional management were also present at the ceremony.

“A cake-cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the start of the weekly flights from Riyadh to Islamabad, and it was announced that new flights to Lahore and other cities will be launched soon,” the airline concluded.

Air Sial was inaugurated in 2020 by the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry to improve air travel to and from Pakistan’s Sialkot city, a major industrial hub in Punjab. The airline uses a fleet of modern Airbus A320 aircraft for its operations.