Afghan authorities have finally allowed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight to take off from the Kabul airport after halting it for two and a half hours.
The Kabul-Islamabad PK-250 flight was ready to take off with 162 passengers on board, but the airport authorities in the Afghan capital denied clearance.
A statement issued by the national flag carrier, however, read that the flight was held up due to ‘runway maintenance’. “Due to obstruction at the start of the runway, full length of the takeoff was not available,” it read.
Due to the shortened runway, the Afghan authorities asked the pilot to offload 15 passengers in weight shedding. The pilot, however, refused the idea as all passengers had already been taken in.
Interestingly, planes of all other airlines continued to take off using the same runway in the meantime.