Lahore Airport Opens as fog Retreats in Pakistan
'Pakistan Times' Wire Service

LAHORE: Hazy conditions in Lahore and most of other parts of central Punjab vanished Monday noon after several hours. Allama Iqbal International Airport has been opened for domestic and international flights.

Thick fog had covered most of Punjab affecting the routine life in the province.

Murky conditions were also prevailed in the province on the night between Sunday and Monday causing suspension of traffic at motorway and other highways due to lesser visibility.

Allama Iqbal International Airport was also closed for flights due to thick fog.

The fog gradually drawn out and the visibility reached to normalcy at noon, after which vehicular traffic was resumed at motorway and other roads. Lahore airport was also opened for domestic and foreign flights.

An earlier report had said that Allama Iqbal Airport here could not be re-opened for flights even after a lapse of long 12 hours due to the thick fogs blurring the visibility and making the entire aviation activities impossible.

Civil Aviation sources expressed the hope that the fogs would be thinning out after 12.00 noon making the weather flight worthy, when flights would resume.

Meanwhile all across the province of Punjab including the capital city here continued remaining blanketed with thick fogs, which inter alia has ceased all domestic and foreign air traffics at the Allama Iqbal International Airport here.

Civil Aviation sources told that the Dubai bound flight scheduled at 9.00 A.M. would now be taking off at 12.30 P.M in the noon, while the incoming flight from Islamabad would now be landing at 11.50 A.M. instead of 8.45 A.M. in the morning. Similarly, the delayed Karachi-Lahore flight would be arriving here at 12.45 P.M.

Met. Department sources told that the Punjab continued to remain in the grip of thick fogs, however, it has somewhat thinned out in Lahore due to light wind, while the visibility was nil in Sargodha at a distance of 100-kilometres, in Multan at 40, in ShorKot at 20 and in Faisalabad at 10-kilometres.●