Pakistan extends closure of its airspace

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan has extended closure of its airspace for another day only hours after it announced to fully reopen the airspace for commercial flights, state-run Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Friday.

The country's airspace, which remains partially closed for over a week amid ongoing tensions with longtime rival India, will remain shut on East-West route till Saturday, the CAA announced on its website.

This means all the east and west-bound flights will have to use alternative routes to operate from and to Europe, North America, and Far East, aviation experts say.

The airspace was completely closed for local and international flights following an air combat between Pakistani and Indian air forces in which both sides claimed to have shot down each other's aircraft last week.

However, it was partially reopened and flight operations at major airports were restored after a couple of days. But, the East-West route remained closed.

The airspace closure left thousands of passengers stranded at several airports across the world apart from forcing airlines to reschedule their flights.