Thousands of flights disrupted by Pakistani airspace closure
Thousands of passengers have been left stranded due to the sudden closure of Pakistani airspace on Wednesday and Thursday local time.
The airspace closure was due to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan which spiked even further when Pakistan claimed to have shot down two Indian Jets over the disputed Kashmir region.
All international and domestic flights in and out of Pakistan were cancelled “until further notice”, according to CNN.
Thai Airways was forced to cancel all its European routes from midnight on Wednesday through to early Thursday.
All THAI flights from Bangkok to Europe departing near midnight of 27 FEB through early 28 FEB and from Europe to Bangkok departing on 27 FEB have been cancelled due to Pakistan airspace closure. More info, https://t.co/vurqfPKswg.
— Thai Airways (@ThaiAirways) February 27, 2019
The airline announced on its Facebook page on Thursday night that flights to Europe have since resumed.
“Thai Airways International Public Company Limited (THAI) would like to apologize to all its passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of sudden closure of Pakistani airspace due to rising tension between Pakistan and India situation,” the airline said.
“THAI is pleased to announce that normal flight operations to Europe is now resumed through airspace outside Pakistan’s.”
The airline has received permission to operate flights through the airspace of the Republic of China.
Other airlines experienced delays as their flights were diverted or rerouted to avoid the airspace.
Qantas passengers travelling from London to Singapore experienced a slight delay after the airline was forced to change its flight path to avoid flying over Pakistan.
Today at 2215 UTC compared to last week same time. Pakistan is set to reopen its airspace in 9.5 hours. https://t.co/j2gVE1fhNm pic.twitter.com/hqkXCHF93F
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 28, 2019
Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority announced the airspace would reopen by 1pm Friday local time.
Featured image source: AP
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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