Pakistan airspace fully open despite temporary route restrictions PAA

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Airports Authority PAA says the country’s airspace remains fully open, safe and available for all civil aviation traffic.

The clarification comes after a Notice to Airmen NOTAM was issued about temporary restrictions on certain air traffic service routes in Karachi and Lahore flight information regions.

According to the advisory, selected route segments will remain unavailable from March 3 to March 31 between 9 am and 3 pm daily due to operational reasons.

The PAA described the NOTAM as a routine operational measure stating that the temporary closures apply to specific route segments from ground level to unlimited altitude during the given time window.

Officials stressed that the overall airspace remains operational with no restrictions on commercial flights arrivals, departures or overflights.

Air traffic services continue normally, and alternative routes are available for affected flights while controllers and airport teams are managing operations without disruption.

Despite this, some flight activity was affected on Monday as no commercial flights operated between the Middle East and Islamabad International Airport except for one arrival.

An Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi landed at Islamabad in the evening, while flights from Dubai, Sharjah, Bahrain, Kuwait and Muscat were cancelled after not departing from their origin airports.

PAA spokespersons say flights operated by Pakistan International Airlines to and from Saudi Arabia are continuing as normal.