Karachi Flights Delayed: Heavy Rain Disrupts Operations

Currently, Karachi Flights operations in Karachi are at risk due to heavy and continuing rainfall. Bad weather has caused aircraft to have trouble landing and, in some cases, caused delays and diversions, forcing a stretched chain across the entire aviation schedule of the country.

Problems Encountered in Landing due to the Weather Conditions

The first concern was attempting to land a plane at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. Persistent rains during the day have improved visibility, but areas around the runways are somewhat muddy, compromising several flights’ takeoff and landing operations. Because of this, some flights left without being able to land and had to utilize other airports instead.

Take, for example, a flight from Doha that had to divert to Muscat when it became obvious that landing the flight safely in Karachi was impossible. A flight originating from Addis Ababa that circled above Karachi for about an hour and hoped to land there continued the flight back as it became apparent that it was impossible.

Extensive Disruption of Flights Both Within and Outside Regions

Weather diversion is just one consequence of the weather impact. A significant number of both international and domestic flights have suffered from enormous setbacks. One of the historic delays involved Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK 300 from Karachi to Islamabad at 7:00 am. Due to weather, this flight is now programmed to leave at 4:00 pm, at 7:00 am, 8 hours and 10 minutes from the original time. This del4:00 pmpmpmad a domino effect on the rest of the flights and added more burden and headache to the day’s operations of the airline.

International flights coming into Karachi from Istanbul and Bahrain and even flying out of Karachi have delayed subsequent outbound flights. Travellers on such airline flights have suffered long delays as the airlines try to reschedule the flights amid the weather constraints.

Travel by Air Continues to be a Ma2:30 amamam for many in Pakistan.

Domestic flights have also faced significant delays, especially on various routes. Flights from Lahore to Karachi, Islamabad to Karachi, and Karachi to Islamabad, particularly PIA flights from Islamabad to Karachi, have all experienced serious departure delays. For example, airlines delayed flights from Lahore to Karachi by eight hours and those from Islamabad to Karachi by four hours. Even PIA delayed flights on the same routes by two hours, frustrating and annoying many travellers.

Conclusion: A Distasteful Experience in the Air Transportation of Lahore

The condition at Karachi Airport is a case in point of the problems that bad weather can cause to air travel.  However, forecasts indicate such events may persist for the foreseeable future owing to the sustained active ANR weather and moss rainfall.