RAWALPINDI, Jan 5: The early departure of President of the Maldives Mamoon Abdul Gayoom caused closure of the Islamabad International Airport for about seven hours, resulting in cancellation of over nine flights and delaying operations of several others.

The Maldives president was expected to depart at about 10am, therefore, the airport was closed from 7am. However, the dignitary delayed his departure for sometime and the airport closure had to be extended till 2pm. Mr Abdul Gayoom departed at 1:45pm.

Several other flights of private carriers were also affected, but their exact number could not be ascertained. Departure of international flights had to be delayed for several hours. A passenger quoted the examples of Manchester- bound PK-701, that was delayed for two hours and 45 minutes and Birmingham-bound PK-791 that took off seven hours after its scheduled time.

Passengers of two international flights had to remain inside the planes for reasonably long period after their arrival. The passengers of one of these flights remained inside the plane for up to two hours.

A Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) official, talking to this reporter, apologized for the inconvenience caused to the passengers. "We are thankful to the passengers for patiently bearing the cancellation and delays for the sake of national interest," he added.