Coronavirus: UAE airlines cancel, reroute Pakistan flights

Dubai - Pakistan government has announced that all international flights will operate only from three airports.

UAE carriers on Saturday announced cancelling and rerouting their flights from Pakistan's smaller cities after Islamabad put restriction on international flights due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan government has announced that all international flights will operate only from three airports - Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad - from Sunday. According to Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority's website, currently 12 airports are used for international flights. It said international flights from Peshawar, Gwadar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Sukkur and Multan will be halted from Sunday.
"From March 15 to March 31, flights to and from Sialkot will be re-routed through Lahore, and flights to and from Peshawar will be rerouted through Islamabad. Affected customers will need to make their own way to rerouted airports and will receive an e-mail with their rebooking details," the Dubai-based carrier said in a statement on Saturday.
Budget carrier flydubai also announced that that it will be rerouting its flights from Sialkot, Faisalabad Multan and Quetta.
"Flights to and from Sialkot will be rerouted to Islamabad from March 14 to March 17.While flights to and from Faisalabad and Multan will be rerouted to Islamabad from March 15 to 17. Flights to and from Quetta on March 16 and 17 have been cancelled and passengers will be rebooked on the Karachi flights," flydubai said in an update on its website.
While flights to and from Karachi will continue to operate to schedule.
On Saturday, all international flights scheduled to land at Peshawar would be diverted to Islamabad airports while flights bound to Multan, Sialkot and Faisalabad would be redirected to Lahore and Islamabad airports. While Quetta flights were redirected to Karachi. All domestic flights remain operational as per schedule.
Moreover, many other countries have also announced restrictions on flights and passengers to combat Covid-19.
waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Pakistan