Islamabad airport to see 2-hour suspension of flight operations on March 17: PAA

The Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) on Sunday said flight operations at Islamabad airport will be suspended for two hours on March 17 instead of March 16. Earlier in the day, the PAA said its previous notice to airmen (Notam) about the brief suspension of flight operations at Islamabad airport on March 16 was cancelled. “The earlier Notam regarding temporary airspace restrictions in the Lahore flight information region (FIR) and suspension of flight operations at Islamabad International Airport on 16 March (08:30am - 10:30am PKT) has been cancelled,” the PAA said on X. “Normal operations will continue,” it clarified.

In a later Notam, the PAA said arrival and departure operations at the Islamabad airport would remain closed from 08:30am to 10:30am PKT on March 17 (Tuesday) instead. The Notam again cited “operational reasons” and advised arriving aircraft to “bring sufficient holding fuel to cater for delay”. The route segments that would be closed and other specifications remained the same as the previous Notam. The PAA specified segments of air traffic service (ATS) routes within the Lahore FIR that would not be available from ground to flight level 210 due to “operational reasons”. Earlier this month, days after the Iran war began, the PAA said that Pakistan’s airspace remained “fully open, safe, and completely available for all civil aviation traffic”.