Says partially restores flight operations on some routes from Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi to Dubai, Gulf countries
Pakistan has fully restored flight operations to Saudi Arabia and partially resumed flights to Dubai amid widespread disruptions caused by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Friday.
Tensions in the Middle East escalated sharply after US and Israeli air strikes last week assassinated Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior officials, triggering a wave of retaliation from Tehran and widening the conflict across the region. In response to the strikes, Iran launched retaliatory attacks on US military bases in several Gulf countries, significantly expanding the scope of the confrontation.
The situation prompted several countries to shut their airspace.
Quoting aviation sources, Radio Pakistan reported today: “Flight operations have been partially restored on some routes from Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi to Gulf countries. Full flight operations have been restored for Saudi Arabia and partial flight operations for Dubai.”
Read: 578 flights cancelled in 5 days amidst Middle East tensions
Pakistan’s international airports had been experiencing widespread cancellations due to ongoing regional tensions in the Gulf. More than 570 flights to Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, were cancelled since Feb 28.
Affected carriers included Emirates, Etihad Airways, Air Arabia, Pakistan International Airlines, Airblue, Flydubai and Qatar Airways.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the government had taken comprehensive steps to facilitate Pakistanis stranded in Iran and other Gulf countries.
He said special facilitation desks had been established to assist returning Pakistani nationals. Pakistan’s embassy in Abu Dhabi and consulates in Jeddah and Dubai were actively assisting Pakistani nationals, while similar arrangements had also been set up in Tehran, Zahedan and Mashhad.
Officials said disruptions and airspace closures in several Gulf countries had caused Pakistan an estimated revenue shortfall of Rs20 billion.
Globally, the crisis has led to large-scale disruptions in air travel. Despite governments and airlines arranging special flights to evacuate travellers stranded in the region, more than 13,000 flights have been cancelled internationally.
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, flights in the region account for around 900,000 seats each day, indicating that the number of affected travellers could already exceed one million.
