The passengers stranded in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries will be brought to Pakistan.
Islamabad (Pakistan Point News – 2nd March, 2019) Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to bring the stranded passengers to Pakistan.
The holidays of operational staff of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) have been suspended in view of the special operation to be launched to bring back stranded Pakistanis.
The PIA has restored flight operations from four big airports of the country, including Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta airports.
PIA Chief Executive Officer Air Marshal Arshad Malik is overseeing the operation.
The passengers stranded in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries will be brought to Pakistan. Over 5000 passengers have already been brought to Pakistan, sources said.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has decided to keep Lahore Airport closed till March 4 in view of the security situation.
Flight operations continue to remain suspended at Sialkot, Multan and Faisalabad airports as well.
Meanwhile, the flight operations have been restored at Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta airports.
A CAA spokesperson said that Pakistan’s airspace has been temporarily restored for commercial flights at these airports.
Pakistan's airspace remained closed on Wednesday and Thursday amid escalating tensions with India.
Several airlines, including Emirates, Air Canada and Qatar Airways, had suspended flights to Pakistan owing to closure of its airspace.
Etihad, flydubai, Gulf Air, SriLankan Airlines and Air Canada also suspended services to the country and flight tracking portals showed Singapore Airlines, British Airways and others were forced to reroute flights.
On Wednesday evening, the CAA had said that flight operations in Pakistan had been partially restored after being completely suspended. However, on Thursday all flight operations remained fully suspended.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor in a media briefing on Wednesday said the decision to close the airspace had been taken due to the prevailing security situation.
Pakistan carried out air strikes and shot down two Indian military jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes "intruded" Pakistan airspace for the first time since a war in 1971, prompting leading powers to urge both of the nuclear-armed countries to show restraint.
Tension has been elevated since the Pulwama attack on February 14 in which over 40 Indian paramilitaries were killed in occupied Kashmir.
