Pak Partially Resumes Air Operations From 4 Airports: Aviation Authority

Pakistan partially resumed it's flight operations with restrictions today, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said, after thousands of passengers were left stranded worldwide when Islamabad shut down air travel as tensions with neighbouring India soared.

Four Indian passengers were also stranded at the Lahore airport on Wednesday.

The CAA announced that flight operations at four Pakistani airports — Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta — will resume partially on Friday.

However, the eastern side airports — Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, Faisalabab and Bahawalpur — will remain closed till March 4.

The CAA tweeted that passengers should check with their airlines for more details.

"Airspace for all commercial flights would be re-opened on March 4 at 1.00 p.m. (0800 GMT)," a spokeswoman said.

The CAA said the airspace have been opened for commercial flights and the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) will resume it's operation from Saturday morning from these airports.

Major air routes between Europe and South East Asia were also disrupted.

Various airlines such as Air India, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines Wednesday announced they were rerouting their flights as Pakistan closed its airspace.

Thai Airways cancelled nearly 30 flights, affecting 5,000 passengers. The decision affected services to London, Munich, Paris, Brussels, Milan, Vienna, Stockholm, Zurich, Copenhagen and Oslo.

Singapore Airlines was also forced to divert Europe-bound flights to Mumbai and Dubai to refuel, while a flight to Frankfurt was cancelled.

Emirates, Qatar Airways, Saudi Airlines, and Air Canada were all also among other carriers forced to cancel and divert flights.

Pakistan's civil aviation authorities said they had allowed some flights to depart on Thursday.

They were an Emirates service from Peshawar to Dubai, an Air Arabia flight from Peshawar to Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE and a Qatar Airways flight from Peshawar to Doha.

(With inputs from agencies)