IndiGo's Amritsar-Ahmedabad flight enters Pakistan airspace amid bad weather

An IndiGo flight from Amritsar to Ahmedabad entered Pakistani airspace for approximately half an hour on Sunday. The flight 6E-645, which was carrying 186 passengers and crew, had to take a deviation over Atari into Pakistan airspace due to bad weather in India. The flight landed safely in Ahmedabad later.

According to flight radar, the Indian 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, the Dawn newspaper reported. The deviation was reportedly well-coordinated with Pakistan by Amritsar air traffic controller (ATC) through telephone.

A senior official of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the incident was not unusual as it was 'internationally allowed' in bad weather conditions, a senior official of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was quoted as saying.

In another similar incident, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight entered Indian airspace in May 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.

The CAA said that the flight was flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet when it entered Pakistani airspace. The flight was then diverted back to India and landed safely in Ahmedabad.

The incident has raised concerns about the safety of Indian flights. The Indian government has said that it will take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of Indian flights.

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 the three adjoining districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province where about 29 people were killed, according to a report by The Express Tribune newspaper.

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