On Monday, Pakistan’s flag carrier flight entered the Indian airspace. As per the reports, the flight was supposed to travel from Karachi to Islamabad. However, it entered the Indian airspace and stayed there for more than an hour. Here’s what happened with the PIA Karachi-Islamabad flight.
PIA Karachi-Islamabad Flight Entered Indian Airspace!
A domestic flight from Pakistan that is travelling to its destination via India is unusual to see. The passengers on board the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight to Islamabad, which departed on Monday, July 24, witnessed this.
Around 5:02 pm PKT (5:32 pm IST) on Monday, the PIA Flight departed from its original flight path and entered Indian airspace. Moreover, it was in the Indian airspace for almost an hour and 12 minutes. According to the reports, it arrived from Hyderabad, Pakistan, flew through Rajasthan in India, and then continued to Haryana and the Indian Punjab before entering Pakistan through Kasur at 6:14 pm PKT (and 6:44 pm IST).
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At 4 o’clock Pakistan time, flight PK 308 was scheduled to take off. According to the flight data, the flight on Monday took 30 minutes longer than expected.
The Flight Took Additional 42 Minutes To Land
Normally, it takes up to one hour and forty minutes to fly from Karachi to Islamabad. The flight took a diversion through India and took an additional 42 minutes to land, which was two hours and fourteen minutes after takeoff. According to data, Pakistan’s Sindh and Punjab saw severe weather conditions on Monday, with thunderstorms also occurring in Islamabad.
Unusually for domestic flights from Pakistan, the course was approved by Indian Civil Aviation Authorities, a technique more typically seen by international carriers in the past. In June, a flight operated by the Indian airline IndiGo that was travelling from the northern city of Amritsar to the western city of Ahmedabad briefly entered Pakistani airspace.
Due to poor weather in India, flight 6E-645, which was carrying 186 passengers and crew, had to divert over Atari and into Pakistani airspace. Later, the plane touched down safely in Ahmedabad.
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The deviation was well-coordinated with the Pakistani civil aviation authority when the Indian plane had been in Pakistani airspace for almost 19 minutes.
Cover Image Courtesy: Wikimedia