KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Saturday suspended flight operations to Damascus after Israeli forces carried out attacks on the Syrian capital’s airport.

The PIA spokesperson confirmed the decision as saying that the flight PK-135 from Karachi to Damascus that was scheduled to take off on Friday morning was cancelled. He stated that flight PK-136 was due to bring 169 passengers from Damascus; however, the flights were cancelled due to the runways being completely inactive.

“Both runways are inactive due to bombing at the Damascus airport that led to complete suspension of (flight) operations there,” Spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khand said in a press statement. He regretted the inconvenience faced by the passengers, explaining that the flight’s cancellation was unavoidable due to the confronted operational issues.

The flights, he said, would be rescheduled as soon as the runways were restored; otherwise, the passengers would be transported through alternative means. He said that all passengers were being informed through PIA’s call centre.

A day earlier, Syria’s transport ministry had announced the “suspension of incoming and outgoing flights through Damascus airport” as a result of technical disruptions. “The resumption of flights shall be declared once the installations and equipment are fixed to ensure the safety and security of the operational traffic,” it added.