Dense fog disrupts PIA flight operations at Lahore airport

LAHORE: Dense fog in and around the Punjab capital has disrupted air travel, with flights being cancelled, delayed or diverted to other cities.

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Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), in its statement on Wednesday, requested the passenger to check flight timings from PIA call centres before leaving for airports.

Due to fog, the destinations for some of the flights were also being changed, Bol News Urdu quoted a national carrier spokesperson as saying.

“Due to fog, flight TK714 from Istanbul to Lahore was delayed by eight hours while flight XY317 from Riyadh was also delayed by eight hours,” PIA spokesperson added in the report.

“flights from Dubai and Jeddah were also cancelled, while flight J9502 from Lahore to Kuwait could not depart even after 10 hours.”

Lahore was recently declared the most polluted city globally by an air quality monitor, as residents choking in acrid smog pleaded with officials to take action.

Air pollution has worsened in Pakistan in recent years, as a mixture of low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal crop burn off, and colder winter temperatures coalesce into stagnant clouds of smog.

Lahore, a bustling megacity of more than 11 million people in Punjab province near the border with India, consistently ranks among the worst cities in the world for air pollution.

In recent years, residents in the walled city have built their own air purifiers and taken out lawsuits against government officials in desperate bids to clean the air — but authorities have been slow to act, blaming the smog on India or claiming the figures are exaggerated.