PIA flight from Fujairah to Lahore diverted to Karachi
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight heading from Fujairah to Lahore had to be diverted because of a cabin pressure issue in the coastal city of Karachi.
“PIA flight 178 (Fujairah-Lahore) is safe and sound, landed at Karachi. While in flight, it encountered a snag related to cabin pressurisation and as part of the process reduced its altitude to 10,000 feet,” the airline said.
The national airline of the South Asian nation was running special flights out of Fujairah as airspace had been closed and there were restrictions on flights due to a military confrontation in the region that has involved the US, Israel and Iran.
The UAE and its fellow Gulf countries have permitted their local and foreign airlines to resume limited flight operations with the safety and security of passengers in mind.
Hundreds of flights to the UAE and other Gulf countries from Pakistan have been cancelled by PIA since the regional war erupted on February 28. It has also temporarily suspended its scheduled flights to the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait due to respect for the safety of passengers and crew. It urged passengers to confirm their flight status before heading to the airports.
PIA would resume flights to Europe in 2025, ending a five-year ban on the Pakistani carrier over safety concerns.
PA concluded that carrying consequences for over-flight in the region was more adverse than the impact on PIA itself to cancel multiple flights at this point,” said PIA in a statement, adding, “As per Cirium data, PIA has cancelled 6 Flights today so far. It has done 134 flight cancellations since the war erupted on February 28.
The airline's team of engineers worked as fast as they could to rectify the fault on the Fujairah-Lahore flight: a PIA statement added that the “flight will be dispatched to its original destination i.e., Lahore, shortly.”
But the carrier did not say how many passengers were aboard the Fujairah-Lahore flight.
Several relatives of passengers aboard the Fujairah–Lahore flight were waiting at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport for their people and called on PIA to upgrade its fleet and improve customer service.
“What about the suffering of passengers, families waiting and suffering. My family, including a one-year-old baby, is waiting for my younger brother at Lahore airport. And many others are suffering,’” X user Waqasali wrote in response to the airline’s announcement of flight diversion.
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