Pakistan announces partial closure of airspace

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) has announced a partial closure of the country’s airspace for commercial flights from March 3 to March 31, citing widespread regional disruptions linked to escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Airspace restrictions across the region followed US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Saturday and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel and US bases in Gulf countries, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The developments have disrupted key air corridors and forced airlines to cancel or reroute thousands of flights.

Pakistani airport officials said about 184 international flights between Pakistan and destinations including Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Sharjah were canceled over the past 24 hours due to Middle East airspace closures and related geopolitical developments.

In a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), the PAA said selected Air Traffic Service (ATS) route segments within the Karachi and Lahore Flight Information Regions (FIRs) would be unavailable from March 3 to March 31, daily between 0900 and 1500 Pakistan Standard Time, citing operational reasons.

An airport official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Arab News that more than 100 inbound flights to Pakistan were canceled on Monday alone. At Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, 32 flights were canceled, including services to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Sharjah, Kuwait and Bahrain. Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport reported 22 cancellations on Gulf routes.

Additional cancellations were recorded at airports in Peshawar, Faisalabad, Quetta and Multan, authorities said.

Since the outbreak of hostilities on Saturday, more than 300 flights between Pakistan and Middle Eastern destinations have been canceled nationwide, according to officials. Domestic flight operations, however, have been comparatively less affected by the regional disruptions.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev