Pakistan to resume international flight operations from Saturday

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Friday announced to allow international flight operation from May 30 after closing its airspace for commercial flights in March in order to stem the spread of novel coronavirus.

"All national and foreign carriers are permitted to start scheduled/non-scheduled and charter operations for outbound passengers only, with effect from May 29, 2020, 1900 UTC [12am local time, Saturday] from all international airports except Gwadar and Turbat airports," the notice added.

"The restrictions on inbound passenger operations into Pakistan shall continue. However, special permission is required from government of Pakistan by national foreign carriers and charter operators for flights with inbound passengers on case-to-case basis.

"Additionally diplomatic, special, and cargo flights to/from Pakistan shall also be permitted. All airlines shall adhere to the standard operating procedures for international passenger and charter flights," it added.

On May 16, authorities had allowed partial domestic flight operations from to facilitate its citizens.

In a video statement, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had said that the decision to resume the operation was taken after the span of around two months after which the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Serene Air will resume their flights for Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

SOP’s in this regard have been issued, according to which each passenger will be scanned and his body temperature will be checked before and after embarkation, besides providing him with face mask and hand sanitizer.