Pakistan to fully re-open commercial airspace next week

FOUR Pakistani airports will begin partial operations today (1) with a full resumption of commercial flights on Monday (4), following their suspension after military tensions with India erupted earlier this week, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.

A spokeswoman said Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta airports would begin some flights on today with the remainder opening next week.

"These four airports will resume flight operations partially today," she said.

She said airspace for all commercial flights would be re-opened on March 4 at 1.00 pm local time (0800 GMT).

The decision to re-open Pakistani airspace came amid signs that the conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours was cooling with an Indian pilot shot down and captured by Pakistani forces this week due to be returned home today.

The closure of Pakistan's airspace has disrupted not just the country's own air transport but also flights worldwide as airlines were forced to cancel or reroute flights to other destinations that pass over Pakistan.

This week flights between Asia and Europe were severely affected by the closure, with thousands of passengers stranded, although airlines were later able to reroute many flights through China that normally pass over Pakistan.

The airspace closure disrupted major routes between Europe and South Asia, with mounting frustration from passengers stranded at international airports.

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 yesterday (28).

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.

(Reuters/AFP)