ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan has fully reopened its airspace to all civilian flights, officials said Saturday evening, following a temporary shutdown amid the country’s most intense military standoff with India in decades.
The announcement came from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, which said that “all airports across the country are now open to normal flight operations.”
The agency urged passengers to contact their respective airlines for updated schedules, as the restoration of full flight operations may take time. Many aircraft had been moved to secure locations during the peak of the conflict, according to a report in Dawn, a leading Pakistani daily.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the national carrier, confirmed that its flight operations had resumed. Abdullah Hafeez Khan, a spokesperson for the airline, said that flight PK750 — which had been diverted to Quetta earlier Saturday while en route from Paris to Islamabad — continued to its final destination later that evening.
“All other delayed or grounded flights resumed service starting from 10 p.m.,” Khan said, adding that passengers who had returned home or to nearby hotels during the suspension were being contacted to rejoin scheduled departures.
“We regret the inconvenience caused due to the airspace closure and disruptions in flight operations,” the airline said in a statement. “However, the safety-driven decisions were necessary given the circumstances.”
The airspace restrictions were imposed earlier this week after India conducted strikes on what it said were militant targets inside Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, prompting retaliatory action by Pakistan. The Pakistani military reported that India had struck multiple locations, including military installations in Rawalpindi, Chakwal, and Shorkot.
As a precaution, Pakistan had closed its airspace to all flights from 3:15 a.m. to noon on several days and extended the closure through Sunday afternoon. The shutdown caused delays and diversions for hundreds of travelers both within Pakistan and abroad.
The easing of restrictions comes as both countries face international pressure to de-escalate a confrontation that has raised fears of a broader conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
