Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will celebrate 60 years of flying to the People’s Republic of China, next year.
With the inaugural flight between Karachi and Shanghai via Guangzhou (Canton) on April 29, 1964, with a Boeing 720B, the national flag carrier earned the distinction of becoming the first airline from a non-communist country to fly into China, official sources told APP here on Wednesday.
Later, in addition to flights operated between Islamabad and Beijing, passengers also enjoyed direct and convenient access to Tokyo, Japan via Beijing and Hong Kong via Bangkok.
At present, passengers travelling by PIA can fly between Pakistan and 16 captivating cities of China via Beijing in partnership with Air China.
These cities include Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Changchun, Hangzhou and Harbin etc.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, PIA was among the few airlines which continued its flight operation to different cities of China.
PIA operated its special flights from Islamabad to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan and Tianjin to facilitate passengers travelling between Pakistan and China.
It also airlifted Covid-19 vaccine from China to Pakistan through special flights during the pandemic.
Currently, PIA operates a weekly passenger flight on Islamabad-Beijing-Islamabad route every Sunday.
