IndiGo flight enters Pakistan airspace amid bad weather, returns safely

Islamabad: An IndiGo flight from Amritsar to Ahmedabad entered Pakistan airspace due to bad weather and went up to Gujranwala before heading back to Indian airspace safely, the airline said on Sunday.

IndiGo flight 6E-645 had to take a deviation over Atari into Pakistan airspace due to bad weather on Saturday, the airline said in a statement.

”The deviation was well coordinated with Pakistan by Amritsar ATC via telephone. The crew was in continuous contact with Pakistan on R/T and the flight landed in Ahmedabad safely post the deviation,” it added.

Earlier, Dawn newspaper reported that the IndiGo plane with a ground speed of 454 knots entered north of Lahore at about 7:30 pm on Saturday and returned to India at 8:01 pm.

Citing a senior official of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the paper said that it was not unusual as it was “internationally allowed” in bad weather conditions.

In May, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight entered Indian airspace and stayed there for nearly 10 minutes due to heavy rainfall in Pakistan.

The flight, PK248, was returning from Muscat on May 4 and was attempting to land at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore. However, heavy rainfall made it difficult for the pilot to land the Boeing 777 aircraft.

Meanwhile, several flights were diverted and delayed in Pakistan due to poor visibility at airports.

The CAA spokesman said that it had extended the weather warning for Lahore till 11:30 pm on Saturday as the visibility at the Allama Iqbal International Airport was 5,000 metres.

A number of flights heading to Lahore were diverted to Islamabad due to poor visibility. Rain accompanied by strong winds and thunder lashed parts of Pakistan on Saturday evening. The worst hit areas were three adjoining districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province where about 29 people were killed, according to local media.