ISLAMABAD: Eighteen domestic and international flights were either cancelled or delayed from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot airports on Sunday, causing problems to passengers who devised their travel plans for different destinations.
In the case of Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, bad weather was the reason behind this sad episode, as violent thunderstorms with hail hit the metropolis on Saturday night till the wee hours on Sunday.
As a result, multiple flights were diverted to Islamabad and Multan after weather conditions did not allow these planes to land in Lahore.
On the other hand, two Fly Baghdad flights, IF-331 and IF-332 from Karachi to Bagdad, Iraq, were cancelled.
Similarly, two domestic PIA flights, PK-503 and PK-504 – one from Karachi to Gwadar and the other from Gwadar to Karachi – had also been cancelled. At the same time, four more flights from Islamabad to Gilgit Baltistan – PK-601, PK-602, PK-605, and PK-606 – were also cancelled.
However, the cancellations at Islamabad airport were not limited to the national flag carrier only, as Islamabad-Muscat PF-734 and Muscat-Islamabad flights of Air Sial were also on the cancellation list.
Other cancelled Air Sial flights included Lahore-Damam PF-742 and PF-743, Karachi-Lahore PF-143 and PF-144, Karachi-Islamabad PF-121, PF-122. PF-125 and PF-126.
Delayed Flights
Meanwhile, the delayed flights of various airlines were: SereneAir: Karachi-Jeddah ER-811 (2 hours and 15 minutes), Lahore-Jeddah ER-801 (3 hours) with a ten-hour delay in the case of a domestic Karachi-Faisalabad flight; Saudia: Lahore-Jeddah SV-739 (3 hours and 15 minutes); PIA: PK-302 Karachi-Lahore (1 hour and 45 minutes), PK-340 Karachi-Faisalabad (rescheduled at 7 pm instead of morning), PK-263 Lahore-Abu Dhabi (3 hours and 20 minutes), PK-281 Sialkot-Muscat (now scheduled for 4:30 pm after a 3-hour delay), Sialkot-Kuwait City (2hours and 45 minutes); and airblue: PA-251.
