Air route linking China's Xinjiang, Lahore of Pakistan resumed

URUMQI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A flight from the Pakistani city of Lahore landed in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, on Tuesday, marking the reopening of the air route between the two cities.

Operated by China Southern Airlines, the flight is the second air route connecting Urumqi with Pakistan alongside with the one to Islamabad. It is scheduled to operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

The resuming of the Urumqi-Lahore air route will better meet the growing demand of Chinese and Pakistani passengers traveling between the two places.

Previously, travellers had to fly from Lahore to other Chinese cities such as Xi'an and Chengdu before further transfering to Urumqi.

Xinjiang has beefed up its efforts to resume air routes connecting the region with Central and West Asia since June this year.

So far, China Southern Airlines has resumed 11 international air routes from Xinjiang to destinations such as Almaty, Dushanbe, and Lahore.

The customs of the Diwopu International Airport in Urumqi said that it will further optimize its services to cope with the increasing number of passengers and streamline the customs clearance procedures, in order to improve the level of openness of Xinjiang.