Pakistan has announced the closure of specific portions of their flight information regions of Karachi and Lahore (FIR) for a limited time every day during May, citing security concerns, the aviation authorities said Thursday.
According to an official notice, restricted airspace will be closed daily from 4:00 am to 8:00 am local time between May 1 and 31.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the closure will not significantly interrupt commercial flight operations, since airplanes will be rediricized through alternative flight routes during restricted hours.
The decision affects the selected runners within the FIR instead of a complete closure, and is being implemented as a precautionary safety measure, the officials added.
The authorities confirmed that air traffic inside and outside the main airports such as Jinnah International in Karachi and Allama Iqbal International in Lahore will continue with minimal adjustments.
Yesterday, the air traffic control authorities issued new directives to monitor all flight movements, including foreign airlines that travel through Pakistani airspace.
For security reasons, all commercial flights scheduled to operate and from Gilgit and Skardu on Wednesday have been canceled.
The authorities said the measures are caution and aim to guarantee the national airspace safety during a period of high regional tension.
Moroever, following the main tensions between Pakistan and India after the recent incident in Pahalgam, the authorities of Pakistan have placed all airports throughout the country under maximum alert, significantly increasing the security and surveillance protocols.
According to aviation sources, strict monitoring has begun of all foreign airlines operating the flights that travel or originate in the Indian airspace. While Indian airlines remain prohibited from operating in Pakistan, flights of other international carriers continue under greater scrutiny.
The controllers have been aimed at demanding authorization numbers of pilot defense of any suspicious plane before the exit. No aircraft will be cleaned without adequate documentation and identification.
