Ethiopian plane lands in Karachi after failed attempt to land at Indian airport

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 cargo plane made an unexpected landing in Karachi after failing to land at Ahmedabad Airport in India.

Sources reported that the Ethiopian cargo flight, en route from Addis Ababa to Ahmedabad, attempted to land at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport but was unable to do so for unknown reasons as it approached the runway.

Following instructions from Ahmedabad's Air Traffic Control (ATC), the pilot initiated a go-around at 1,500 feet and diverted the flight ET 3644 towards Karachi.

After flying for over an hour, the aircraft landed safely at Jinnah International Airport. The Ethiopian cargo plane later departed for Ahmedabad from Karachi.

On August 25, despite the longstanding diplomatic freeze between Pakistan and India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used Pakistani airspace on his return journey from Poland to New Delhi.

Sources from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCCA) disclosed that the aircraft carrying Modi entered Pakistani airspace at 10:15 am and exited at 11:01 am, spending a total of 46 minutes within Pakistan's boundaries.

The plane entered via Chitral and traversed the air control regions of Islamabad and Lahore before crossing into India's Amritsar.

Modi's visit to Poland was part of a diplomatic mission that included a stop in Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The event marks a notable moment in the otherwise tense relations between the two nations. In March 2019, Pakistan reopened its airspace for civilian flights after a five-month closure triggered by a military standoff with India.

The closure followed an attack on a security convoy in IIOJK, which resulted in the deaths of 44 paramilitary police officers.

Tensions further escalated when Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties and suspended trade with India after the Modi-led government revoked the semi-autonomous status of IIOJK in August 2019.