Authorities in Pakistan have temporarily closed its airspace for 48 hours, suspending all domestic and international flights across all the country’s airports including Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Quetta, reported The COW News .
Islamabad International Airport has been shut down for all flight operations, and all inbound and outbound flights were diverted to Karachi Airport. Saudi Airlines flight SV-726, which was scheduled to land in Islamabad, has also been rerouted to Karachi.
Authorities have advised passengers not to come to the airport and to return home. The Civil Aviation Authority stated that normal flight operations will resume once the situation stabilizes.
According to BBC, closure of all airspace regions covering the major cities of Lahore and Karachi was in place.
Several major airports fall into these regions, including Islamabad International Airport. There’s already a significant impact on flights in the region, and several planes have diverted from Pakistan, according to flight tracking provider FlightRadar24.
In a post on social media, the firm showed diversions by Finnair, Emirates, Turkish Cargo and Saudia.
In a statement to CNN, Air France said it had suspended flights over Pakistan until further notice, and was “adapting its flight schedule and flight plans to and from certain destinations”. German carrier Lufthansa has also told Reuters news agency that it was “avoiding Pakistani airspace until further notice”.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced the cancellation of all its flights for the next 12 hours, citing operational reasons amid the prevailing security situation.
According to a PIA spokesperson, passengers are advised to remain in contact with PIA call centres for updates regarding their flights.
“The passengers will be informed about the evolving situation in due course,” the spokesperson added.
In light of the current national security situation and in compliance with directives from the Government of Pakistan, Sialkot International Airport has been temporarily closed for all flight operations until further notice.
The airport spokesperson confirmed the suspension and stated that the decision has been taken as a precautionary measure to ensure public safety.
Meanwhile, several Indian airlines have also announced the cancellation of flights to Indian-occupied Kashmir and to some cities in border states such as Rajasthan and Punjab.
SpiceJet said that airports in parts of northern India, including Dharamshala, Leh, Jammu, Srinagar and Amritsar, were closed, which impacted its flights from these locations. IndiGo Airlines posted on X that its flights to and from these cities were impacted because of changing airspace conditions.
Air India said it had cancelled all its flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Rajkot cities till noon local time. The airline also said it had diverted two international flights en route to Amritsar in Punjab state to capital Delhi.
