RAWALPINDI: Foggy weather and poor visibility continued to divert, delay and cancel flights on Wednesday as four international flights were diverted to Islamabad while two flights of Turkish Airlines were cancelled due to bad weather in Lahore.

The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that due to poor visibility at Lahore and Multan airports since last night, Pakistan International Airlines’ flights PK840 from Jeddah to Lahore, PK739 from Lahore to Jeddah and PK230 from Muscat to Lahore were delayed. Likewise, Airblue’s flight PA413 from Sharjah to Lahore also got delayed.

The CAA spokesman said that Turkish Airlines’ flight TK714 from Istanbul to Lahore, and TR715 from Lahore to Istanbul were cancelled.

PIA’s flight PK180 from Dubai to Sialkot was diverted to Islamabad on Tuesday night, while flight PK768 from Jeddah to Lahore, PK848 from Madina to Lahore, and PK748 from Madina to Lahore were also diverted to Islamabad.

111 bird strikes recorded between June-Nov: CAA

Passengers of these flights were driven to their cities by buses provided by the airline. The CAA asked the passengers to check with their airline for any update before leaving for the airport. They can also visit www.caapakistan.com.pk for flight inquiries, it said.

Besides, due to poor visibility and fog until 10pm at the Lahore Airport, two inbound international flights were delayed on Wednesday. Arrival of PIA flight PK204 from Dubai was delayed till Friday 4.10am, while PK740 from Jeddah to Lahore was delayed till Friday at 5.10am.

Similarly, the Airblue flight PA872 from Jeddah to Multan was delayed, while the Sharjah-Multan PA813 flight was also delayed till Friday 1.45am.

PIA’s flight PK740/743 Jeddah-Multan-Jeddah was cancelled.

Bird strikes Separately, the CAA said that 111 incidents of birds hitting the aircraft at various airports of the country were reported from June to November.

Bird strikes to aircraft are a common but serious threat to both safety of planes and passengers.

Though CAA did not share data, it claimed to have recorded an overall gradual decline in the trend of bird strikes between June and November due to effective measures taken by the authorities.

According to the CAA spokesman, the highest number of bird strike incidents, 35, were recorded at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore, over the period under review, while the least number — three — were documented at Sukkur Airport.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022