11 flights to and from Delhi cancelled due to Pakistan airspace closure

Eleven flights, either arriving at or departing from Delhi, were cancelled due to closure of Pakistan airspace on Friday, airport officials said here.

Due to the Pakistan airspace being closed, there were "22 departures and 17 arrivals that were late" at the Delhi airport on Friday, they said.

"Five flights, which planned to depart from Delhi on March 1, had to be cancelled due to closure of Pakistan airspace. Similarly, six flights, which planned to arrive at Delhi on Friday, had to be cancelled for the same reason," the airport officials said.

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority announced Friday that flight operations at Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta airports have resumed.

However, the eastern side airports - Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, Faisalabab and Bahawalpur -- will remain closed till March 4, it added.

The closure of Pakistan airspace left thousands of air travellers stranded worldwide and over 700 international and domestic flights were cancelled during the last three days to and from Pakistan, including flights to New Delhi.

Delhi airport officials said a Pakistan International Airlines flight, which had to arrive at 2:10 pm here from Lahore on Friday, was cancelled. Consequently, the flight, which was scheduled to return at 3.30 pm, was cancelled too, according to the officials.

They said the Air Canada flight, which had to arrive at Delhi from Vancouver at 4:05 am, was cancelled and the return flight at 6:05 am was also cancelled, they said.

Similarly, Air Astana flight KC907 from the Almaty International Airport to Delhi was cancelled on Friday. The return flight to Astana was also cancelled, the officials said.

The Swiss airline flight, which had to arrive from Zurich at 12:45 am, was also cancelled, according to officials.

The Delhi to Kabul flight of SpiceJet, which had to depart at 8.50 am on Friday, was cancelled due to Pakistan airspace being closed, they said.

The officials said as a result of the closure of airspace, the airline's returning flight from Kabul to Delhi was cancelled too, they added.

The Kuwait Airways flight, which had to arrive at New Delhi from Kuwait City at 1.15 am on Friday, was cancelled. The return flight scheduled to depart from Delhi at 2.45 am was also cancelled, the officials said.