The Philippines-based low cost airline, Cebu Pacific Air, has announced that it has approval from the civil aviation department to run a direct flight service between Manila and Beijing from September 2010.

This will make Beijing the third destination for Cebu Pacific Air in mainland China, after Guangzhou and Shanghai.

The airline plans to operate three flights a week going between the two cities. They will depart Manila at 19:35 and arrive at Beijing at 00:50. Return flights will leave Beijing at 01:00 and get back to Manila at 05:30.

Cebu Pacific Air is now expanding it business with the aim of becoming a large-scale low-cost airline in Asia. The direct service to Beijing is part of its business development plan.

It is also reported that the airline plans to buy 22 new aircraft over five years a cost of USD1.4 billion to double the number of aircraft it currently owns.