PIA flight lands after 21-hour delay

Dammam–Karachi flight diverted due to weather, later delayed over crew duty limits

KARACHI:

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Dammam to Karachi landed at Jinnah International Airport nearly 21 hours behind schedule, leaving passengers stranded in difficult conditions at Saudi airports.

According to sources, the national carrier's flight PK-242 was originally scheduled to arrive in Karachi on Saturday night at 11:40pm.

However, the flight was first diverted due to bad weather and later experienced prolonged delays due to operational constraints.

The flight, which was initially en route from Saudi Arabia, reportedly departed around 7pm after multiple schedule changes.

However, passengers were made to wait for hours at Dammam Airport before being informed at around 3am that the flight had been cancelled.

Sources said that due to repeated delays and cancellations, airline staff were unable to provide passengers with ade-quate facilities in line with aviation regulations.

As a result, cleared immigration passengers were left confined to air-port lounges, where many - including children and elderly travellers - spent the night sitting on chairs or on the floor.

A spokesperson for Pakistan International Airlines said the flight was initially diverted to Al Qassim Airport due to bad weather, where it remained grounded for around four hours before being returned to Dammam.

However, the crew's duty time limitation prevented immediate departure, as regulations require mandatory rest periods after ex-tended duty hours.

The spokesperson added that the crew required at least 12 hours of rest, further contributing to the delay. The flight eventually departed later in the evening and reached Karachi at 8:45pm on Saturday, carrying around 170 passengers.

Overall, the flight experienced a total delay of approximately 21 hours, causing significant inconvenience to passengers.