KARACHI: Flight operations at Jinnah International Airport were badly disrupted on Wednesday as severe weather led to multiple delays and cancellations of both domestic and international flights, as per the source.
Airport officials confirmed that at least 12 flights were delayed. An Iraqi Airways flight to Najaf took off an hour late at 6:00 am, while Airblue’s flight to Jeddah (PK-170) departed nearly seven hours late at 10:00 am.
Other international flights, including Qatar Airways flight 605 to Doha, Flydubai flight 332 to Dubai, and Etihad Airways flight 297 to Abu Dhabi, were delayed by about an hour each.
Domestic schedules were also affected. PIA’s flight 455 to Skardu left an hour behind schedule, Serene Air’s flight 520 to Lahore was delayed by 30 minutes, and PIA’s flight 300 to Islamabad departed 20 minutes late.
Meanwhile, AirSial’s flight 121 to Islamabad, set for 7:00 am, had not departed by the time of reporting, and PIA’s flight 302 to Lahore, scheduled at 8:00 am, was still awaiting clearance.
PIA’s flight 503 to Gwadar was cancelled altogether. A Saudi Airlines flight to Jeddah (701) finally took off at 10:10 am, about an hour late.
The city, still reeling from two days of heavy rainfall, is also facing a serious power crisis as 98 feeders of K-Electric remain down, leaving vast areas without electricity.
Officials said rainwater has flooded underground cables and substations, disrupting supply to several neighborhoods. Power outages have been reported in Surjani Town, Yousuf Goth, Moinabad, Scheme 33, and Baldia.
Other areas, including Gulistan-e-Johar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Bin Qasim, Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Manghopir, and Razzaqaba, also remain without electricity.
Residents of Ramswami, the Old City Area, Urdu Bazaar, and M.A. Jinnah Road have been suffering outages for over 48 hours. The prolonged blackout has also led to water shortages in many homes, exacerbating the difficulties faced by Karachi’s citizens.