F.P. Report
LAHORE: Flights partially resumed at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport early on Sunday morning after being suspended for over 80 hours amid soaring tensions between India and Pakistan.
Over the past four days “more than 400 flights and 25,000 passengers” were affected due to the closure of Pakistani airspace, after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) knocked down two intruding Indian warplanes. DG ISPR Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had announced that the airspace had been closed due to the prevailing “[security] environment”.
Indian news outlets had reported that airports in the Indian-occupied Kashmir were also closed to commercial flights. The Press Trust of India news agency had said that these airports were located at Srinagar, Jammu and Leh.
Although flights had partially resumed at other major international airports in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta on March 1, Lahore airport had remained closed.
A Notice to Airmen (Notam) issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) today said that flight operations to and from Lahore airport, had resumed along existing routes.
The notice said that flight operations at Lahore are expected to resume completely by March 8, 11:59pm (GMT). Flight operations at the other major international airports have returned to normalcy.
Pakistan International Airlines spokesperson, Mashood Tajwar, said yesterday that normal flight operations at other major airports in Punjab, including Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Sialkot, are expected to resume by tomorrow.
