A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight en route to Jeddah from Peshawar on Tuesday was forced to change course and land in Karachi instead when a bird hit the nose of the aircraft.

The nose of the aircraft, which was a Boeing 777 carrying around 300 passengers, was damaged as a result of the bird crashing into it. The pilot was advised to land the plane at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport.

PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar said flight PK-735 had taken off at 5pm from Peshawar. Only a few kilometres into its journey, a bird crashed into the aircraft's nose.

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"We made a decision to land the plane in Karachi at around 7pm and inspect the aircraft for damages. There was a possibility that a part would need replacement and once in Jeddah, there would have been a considerable delay in having the part flown in from Pakistan," the spokesperson explained.

Tajwar said the airline's engineers did the necessary repairs at the airport in Karachi and after clearance from the Civil Aviation Authority, the plane departed for Jeddah again at 9pm.