Smog disrupts 604 PIA flights in Punjab, says spokesman

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Since November 1-15, bad weather conditions (dense fog and smog) in the country, especially in southern Punjab and upper Sindh, disrupted nearly 604 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights, its spokesman said Tuesday.

Keeping in view the weather forecast with coordination of meteorological department, PIA management adopted a proactive approach to minimise the inconvenience caused to passengers, he said, adding it involved rescheduling of flights and adjustment on alternate arrangements.

The passengers were timely informed by PIA’s call centre, while regular timely updates were also issued to both print and electronic media and social media as well. PIA did face some difficulty in conveying messages to passengers due to unavailability of their contact numbers.

It is, therefore, requested that all passengers must provide their contact numbers while making a reservation.

PIA spokesman said that the weather conditions that prevailed for two weeks were beyond the control of the airlines.  The affected areas included Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore, Gwadar, Sukkur, Bahawalpur, Sialkot and Rahim Yar Khan.

PIA adjusted its flights’ schedule based on 83 weather occurrences. During this period the airline could not operate flights due to poor visibility and also keeping in view the safety requirements.  He said that these weather occurrences caused 159 flight cancellations, 17 diversions, 82 re-routing of flights and more than 200 delays.

PIA spokesman further added that if one flight is delayed, a number of flights are affected as a result because the same aircraft has to operate multiple flights. Due to this scenario, nearly 231 flights were also affected.

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