Passengers suffer as PIA flights are cancelled due to closure of Pakistan Commercial Air Space
Hundreds of passengers suffered as a flight from Birmingham to Islamabad and Peshawar-outband flight from Abu Dhabi Airport has been cancelled after Pakistan closed its commercial airspace amid an international incident with India.
The decision means the Pakistan International Airlines service will not fly on Thursday, February 28. Pakistan International Airlines has also made official announcement on their official Facebook page.
Attention! As a precautionary measure, PIA flights may be affected due to closure of Pakistan Commercial Air Space.
All international and national flights are canceled for today, due to closure of Pakistan Air Space. For details please contact your travel agent or call our universal helpline +92 021 111 786 786.
Birmingham Airport said the airspace was closed until midnight on Thursday, February 28 but subsequent services were expected to run as usual.
A spokeswoman for the airport advised passengers to check its website regularly for updates on any future possible cancellations or changes.
Pakistan’s airspace was closed after the country’s air force shot down two Indian jets and captured two pilots alive.
A British Airways plane flying from Delhi to London was among those diverted around the conflict zone in the disputed region of Kashmir.
Thousands of passengers were also stranded in Bangkok on Thursday when Thai Airways cancelled all flights over Pakistan, foreign media reported.
About 30 flights were initially affected due to the closure of Pakistani airspace for passenger flights. Three planes were forced to return to Bangkok and others were cancelled or set to be re-routed. Thai Airways said about 5,000 passengers had been caught up. Passengers were highly perturbed over the delays and lodged protest. Some passengers said they waited the whole day for clearance of their flights, but that did not happen. They also complained that they were not looked after by the airways or airport staff and they were short of food and did not take rest. Some of the stranded passengers from Europe also faced problems as no one understood their language and translators were not available at the airport.
