KARACHI: Dubai-based low-cost airline flydubai has started flights to Islamabad and Lahore, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday, with the first flights in both cities greeted with water cannon salutes. 

Flydubai first started operating in Pakistan in 2010 with the launch of flights to the southern port city of Karachi. The carrier also serves the cities of Faisalabad, Multan, Quetta and Sialkot.

“Flydubai has also started flights to Islamabad,” CAA said in a statement. “Inaugural flight FZ 353 arrived in Islamabad from Dubai at 1:55am.”

A small dinner ceremony was organized on the occasion, CAA said, and the inaugural flight carrying 153 passengers was given a water cannon salute by the Rescue and Fire Fighting Service.

The flight returned to Dubai at 220pm on Monday with 162 passengers on board.

Separately, the CAA said flydubai’s Flight FZ 359 arrived in Lahore at 429am. 

“A cake cutting ceremony was organized on this occasion and gifts were presented to the passengers,” CAA said. “Flydubai’s inaugural flight to Lahore was presented with a water cannon salute.”

In a press release last month when flydubai announced it would start flights to Lahore and Islamabad, Hamad Obaidalla, chief commercial officer of the airline, said Pakistan had long been an important market for the carrier:

“Since 2010 when we first started operations to the market, we have seen sustained demand for travel and with the start of our daily services to Islamabad and Lahore, we look forward to offering passengers more opportunities to explore Dubai, the GCC region and beyond on the flydubai network.”

As per the airline, the return business class fares from DXB to ISB start from AED 5,500 ($1497) and economy class fares from AED 1,300 ($353). Return business class fares from ISB to DXB start from Rs400,000 ($1436) and economy class fares from Rs120,000 ($430).