LAHORE: China Southern Airlines will start its Lahore-Urumqi direct flight operation from today (Thursday) as acting Consul General of China in Lahore Wang Daxue hopes the activity will lead to establishing an “air silk route.”

The maiden flight from Urumqi (CZ 6017) will land at Allama Iqbal International Airport here at 8:15am on Thursday creating the first air channel between China and Punjab province by the round-trip route of Urumqi-Lahore.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the occasion here on Wednesday, Mr Daxue said Lahore would be connected to 13 countries with the air link which would help develop an “air silk route” after the road connectivity through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He said the CPEC projects had so far created 70,000 direct jobs in Pakistan while the air link would help facilitate 200,000 visitors from and to Pakistan per year.

Deputy General Manager Feng Yuejun said his company had become the first Chinese airline to introduce direct flights for Lahore, while it is already operating six days a week Islamabad-Urumqi flights since 1994 without fail.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2018