Qatar Airways' Delhi-Doha Flight Diverted to Karachi After Technical Issue

Doha-bound Qatar Airways flight from Delhi was reportedly been diverted to Karachi airport in Pakistan after an indication of smoke from the cargo hold. The Qatar Airways released a statement saying the flight made an emergency landing in Karachi after the technical issue.

"Aircraft landed safely in Karachi where it was met by emergency services and passengers disembarked," the airlines said in the statement. The incident is under probe and arrangement is being made for the passengers for their further travel to Doha, the Qatar Airways said.

Flight QR579 had around 100 passengers on board with several of them having connecting flights from Doha.

A video of an anguished passenger on flight was shared on social media. The passenger Ramesh Raliya who was the Qatar Airways flight said in a video that most people on board were Indians and had connecting flights from Doha. However, they weren't informed about the takeoff time from Karachi, the passenger alleged.

The sharing of airspace has been among points of contention between India and its neighbour Pakistan. In February 2019, following the Balakot airstrikes, Pakistan had shut its airspace to India. It was lifted only in July, 2019. However, the closure had implications for the airlines and the passengers. According to the ministry of civil aviation, the few month-long ban had affected 600 flights per day "across India-Pakistan airspace boundary". The flights would take the route via Arabian Sea airspace. The diversion had resulted in increased travel time, cost to passengers and increased workload for air traffic controllers, according to the ministry. India's airlines faced losses of Rs 550 crore in the few months of the ban.

Pakistan airspace has 11 international air routes.