PIA flights to Saudi Arabia, UAE to resume on 'priority basis'

KARACHI: Flight operations will resume temporarily on a priority basis for flights to Saudi Arabia and UAE, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced on Thursday.

In a post on Twitter, the national flag carrier said, “PIA flights to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are being resumed on a temporary basis after the Pakistan airspace opened temporarily.”

“PK-731, headed to Jeddah, will take off from Karachi at 6pm, PK-213 (Karachi-Dubai) will take off at 10pm, PK-747 (Karachi-Medina) will leave at 6pm and PK-245 (Karachi-Dammam) will fly at 11pm,” it further said.

Passengers are requested to contact our call centre before the departure from the airport, PIA further said.

Pakistan's airspace remained closed for a second day on Thursday amid escalating tensions with India.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed the news in a Twitter post.

However, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said the Pakistani airspace will continue to remain close till 5am on Friday as tensions with India escalate.

"Since the existing NOTAM is effective until 2359HRS of February 28, Pakistan airspace shall remain closed. Please stay in touch with your airlines for timely update on any further changes," the CAA tweeted.

Several airlines, including Emirates, Air Canada and Qatar Airways, have suspended flights to Pakistan owing to closure of its airspace.

Etihad, flydubai, Gulf Air, SriLankan Airlines and Air Canada also suspended services to the country and flight tracking portals showed Singapore Airlines, British Airways and others were forced to reroute flights.

On Wednesday evening, CAA had said that flight operations in Pakistan had been partially restored after being completely suspended. However, on Thursday all flight operations remained fully suspended.

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor in a media briefing on Wednesday said the decision to close the airspace had been taken due to the prevailing security situation.

Pakistan carried out air strikes and shot down two Indian military jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes "intruded" Pakistan airspace for the first time since a war in 1971, prompting leading powers to urge both of the nuclear-armed countries to show restraint.

Tension has been elevated since the Pulwama attack on February 14 in which over 40 Indian paramilitaries were killed in occupied Kashmir.