RAWALPINDI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Tuesday further extended the closure of eastern airspace till today (Wednesday) at 3pm.

According to fresh Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) the eastern airspace will remain closed for international transit flights but the flight operation on restricted routes would continue.

Earlier, on Saturday the CAA intimated to airmen that the eastern airspace would remain closed for flights until 3 pm on March 11.

A CAA official told Dawn that the flight operation will continue on 11 airports including Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore and Faisalabad.

Airports in Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and D. G. Khan will remain closed till further order.

A senior official told Dawn that the closure of flight operation at 15 airports is expected to remain close until March 15 and could be extended further until the security situation improves.

Pakistani airspace was closed on Feb 27, at 12:30 pm for all flights operation after Indian intrusion by two aircraft.

Due to closure of eastern airspace, the flight schedule has been badly affected causing problems to air travelers as well as significantly increasing operation cost of airlines operating on domestic and international routes.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2019