Rainy weather forces PIA to divert, delay flights to Islamabad

Flights were either diverted or delayed due to bad weather, cleaning of tarmacs at Karachi airport.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been forced to delay and or divert its flights to Islamabad on Wednesday due to rain and bad weather over the federal capital.

“Due to inclement weather in Islamabad, PIA flights were either diverted or delayed which is beyond the control of the airline,” read a press release issued by the national flag carrier on Wednesday.

The statement added that PIA flights from Karachi and Islamabad were also affected due to the closure of both airports from 1:00pm to 3:00pm on account of cleaning the tarmacs.

The delayed flights from Karachi included PK-301, PK-304, PK-340, PK-352 and PK-388, while three flights were also diverted early morning from Islamabad to Lahore due to bad weather.

The flights diverted from Islamabad were PK-738, PK-747 and PK-792 while the flights affected due to closure of tarmacs at Jinnah terminal, Karachi were PK-340 and PK-388.

It was earlier reported that almost a third of PIA flights have suffered delays this year due to technical and administrative reasons, dealing a severe blow to the national flag carrier’s business.

More than 4,345 of PIA’s 12,184 flights were delayed due to various faults in this year’s first three months, the National Assembly was told on July 6.