Pakistan’s airspace to remain closed till Friday morning

Earlier officials announced airspace would be temporarily restored for commercial aviation

Revising its earlier decision, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced on Thursday that Pakistan’s airspace would remain suspended till Friday morning, March 1.

https://twitter.com/AirportPakistan/status/1101092215558832128

Earlier, CAA announced that the country's airspace would be temporarily restored for commercial aviation.

https://twitter.com/AirportPakistan/status/1101046379068088321

Following the announcement, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) declared that it would be resuming a few flights this evening.

Tourists stranded as Thai Airways cancels flights over Pakistan

"After the decision to temporarily open Pakistan's airspace, PIA has taken the decision to fly their UAE and Saudi Arabia bound flights," PIA tweeted.

پاکستانی فضائی حدود کے عارضی طور پر کھل جانےپر پی آئی اے نے ترجیحی بنیادوں پر سعودی عرب اور یو اے ای کے لئے بعض پروازیں بحال کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے ۔ پی کے 731 آج شام 6 بجے روانہ کراچی سے جدہ، پی کے 213 رات 10 بجے کراچی سے دبئی، پی کے 747 شام 6 بجے کراچی سے مدینہ

— PIA (@Official_PIA) February 28, 2019

PIA has announced that their flights to Jeddah, Dubai, Madina and Dammam will be departing later today.

پی کے 245 رات 11 بجے کراچی سے دمام کے لئے روانہ ہوں گی۔
مسافروں سے درخواست ہے کہ ائیر پورٹ روانگی سے قبل ہمارے کال سنٹر سے ضرور رابطہ کریں۔

— PIA (@Official_PIA) February 28, 2019

"Passengers are requested to contact us on our call center before leaving for the airport," they stated further.

According to Arab News, Pakistani pilgrims are being hosted in Makkah and Madina until flights are resumed.

#BREAKING: Pakistani pilgrims hosted in Makkah and Madinah until flights to Pakistan resume pic.twitter.com/VD9ZDJiKJ3

— Arab News (@arabnews) February 28, 2019

All local and international commercial flights were suspended following escalating tension between India and Pakistan on Wednesday.

Minutes after the CAA's announcement, flight tracking service, Flight Radar 24, tweeted an update on Pakistan's airspace.

Pakistani Airspace has just been opened for some flights. Air Arabia #G9825 is the first flight to leave Pakistanhttps://t.co/0yeZmuAyOh pic.twitter.com/4zhxoxsYnV

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 28, 2019

The tracking service tweeted: "Pakistani Airspace has just been opened for some flights. Air Arabia #G9825 is the first flight to leave Pakistan."