IndiGo flight 6E-645 had to diverge over Atari into Pakistani airspace due to bad weather on Saturday
Posted Date – 11:45 PM, Sunday – 6/11/23
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Islamabad: The IndiGo flight from Amritsar to Ahmedabad entered Pakistani airspace due to bad weather and ascended to Gujranwala before returning safely to Indian airspace, the airline said on Sunday.
IndiGo flight 6E-645 had to diverge over Atari into Pakistani airspace due to bad weather on Saturday, the airline said in a statement.
“Amritsar Air Traffic Control coordinated the deviation well with Pakistan via phone. The crew was in constant contact with Pakistan on R/T and the aircraft landed safely in Ahmedabad and the deviation was issued,” it added.
Earlier, Dawn newspaper reported that the IndiGo plane, traveling at a ground speed of 454 knots, entered northern Lahore at around 7.30pm on Saturday and returned to India at 8.01pm.
The newspaper quoted a senior official from Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as saying that this was not unusual as adverse weather conditions were “internationally permissible”.
In May, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight entered Indian airspace due to heavy rainfall in Pakistan and was stranded for nearly 10 minutes.
The flight, PK248, returned from Muscat on May 4 and attempted to land at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport. However, heavy rain made it difficult for pilots to land the Boeing 777.
Meanwhile, several Pakistani flights were diverted and delayed due to low visibility at the airport.
A CAA spokesman said it had extended the weather warning for Lahore until 11:30 pm on Saturday due to visibility at 5,000 meters at Allama Iqbal International Airport.
Many Lahore-bound flights were diverted to Islamabad due to poor visibility.
Rain, accompanied by strong winds and lightning, battered parts of Pakistan on Saturday night. The hardest-hit areas were three neighboring districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where about 29 people were killed, according to local media reports.
