Flydubai, Dubai's first low cost airline, launched flights to Karachi, Colombo and Irbid, bringing its route network to 22 cities.

"The ties between the UAE and Pakistan are already strong with bilateral trade worth more than $6 billion annually,' said Ali Saif Alawani, UAE Ambassador to Pakistan, who was on board the inaugural flight to Karachi.

"Increasing the number of affordable, quality, direct air travel links between our countries will only serve to strengthen our relationship," he added.

"We're delighted to be able to expand our range of destinations in the South Asian sub-continent with the start of our flights to Sri Lanka," said Ghaith Al Ghaith, flydubai's CEO.

"Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination and by making travel to the capital a little less complex, a little less stressful and a little less expensive, I am confident this new route will be a popular one."

"Flydubai's aim is to make travel a little less complex, a little less stressful and a little less expensive and thereby encourage more people to travel more often," Al Ghaith added.

"We are committed to growing the markets we fly to and we have already seen success with this in other markets, including Beirut, which has seen a 33% increase in traffic, Amman which gained a 40% increase, and a 22% increase across all Egyptian routes since flydubai started operations last year," he added.