ISLAMABAD: Heavy fog has disrupted and delayed dozens of flights in Pakistan this week and led to highway closures at night, officials said on Sunday, predicting that the foggy conditions would continue into next week.
Each winter, thick fog envelopes the plains of the country, especially parts of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, reducing visibility to as low as 100 meters and causing delays and diversions of flights.
As many as 32 flights scheduled to land in Faisalabad, Multan, Lahore and other airports in Punjab have been diverted to Islamabad International Airport due to fog since Wednesday. The flights were mainly coming from Middle Eastern cities, including Jeddah, Medina, Muscat, Dammam, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
“Islamabad airport is under pressure due to the diverted flights as it has been handling both the diverted and scheduled flights,” Saifullah Khan, a spokesperson for Civil Aviation Authority, told Arab News.
“The Islamabad airport is fully prepared to handle the additional pressure and facilitate the travellers,” he said, adding that additional manpower had also been deployed to cater to the rush and airport managers had set up a dedicated task force in their respective areas to coordinate with airlines, and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Airport Security Force (ASF) to ensure timely clearance of passengers by airlines and airport agencies.
In case of flight delays due to fog, airlines are bound to serve refreshments and provide suitable accommodation to passengers until their flights are rescheduled, Khan said.
“Multan, Faisalabad and Lahore airports were mainly affected by the dense fog,” the CAA spokesman said. “All the alternate arrangements are in place to facilitate the travelers.”
The national highways and motorways police had also issued a fog journey planner for travelers for all seven different motorways in the country.
“We close the motorways on regular intervals to ensure safety of the passengers during the thick fog which hits all our motorways,” Yasir Mehmood, a spokesperson for the national highways and motorways police, told Arab News.
He advised the public to use the motorways between 11am and 6:30pm during the foggy season to avoid delays and accidents, and refer to the journey planner on the highway police website and social media.
“We close the motorways as soon as the fog starts setting in as per our zero-accident policy,” he said, adding that no fatal accident had been reported on the motorways so far.
“No fatal accident has been reported on the highways as well so far due to our zero-risk policy,” he said.
The Pakistan Metrological Department has forecast that dense foggy conditions are expected to continue till next week in most parts of the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces.
“We won’t see any relief in the fog especially in plain areas of the country in a week or so,” Dr Zaheer Babar, a director at the Met Office, told Arab News.
He said light rain was expected on December 28 and 29 in the mountainous areas of the country while dry weather was expected to prevail in the plain areas.
“The foggy conditions may continue to affect transportation,” Babar said, “therefore travellers should plan their journeys beforehand to avoid any congestions and delays.”
