The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) on Saturday announced changes in certain routes for the Karachi and Lahore flight regions for the upcoming week to ensure “continued safety and effective management of air traffic”.
“The restrictions are effective from Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at 5:01am Pakistan Standard Time (PKT) and will remain in place until Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at 9am PKT,” said a NOTAM (notice to airmen) issued by the PAA.
“This is a routine operational safety matter. The measure is being implemented for ‘operational reasons’ to ensure the continued safety and effective management of air traffic.”
In another development, open source tracker Damien Symon, also quoted by Reuters in earlier news reports, said Indian aviation authorities issued a NOTAM a day earlier “possibly for a military exercise/weapons test as India prepares for its Tri-Services Exercise across the border”.
The open source tracker stated that India had also issued a NOTAM for a tri-services exercise along its western border with Pakistan from October 30 to November 10, saying the “chosen area and scale of activity are unusual”.
A map he shared showed that the exercise area extends from around the Indian city of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to the disputed Sir Creek marsh area.
The creek area has been a point of contention for decades between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, and talks on the maritime boundary dispute have remained inconclusive thus far.
Indian news outlet Firstpost also reported that NOTAM was for a “large-scale tri-services exercise” along the Pakistan border “amid rising tensions following Operation Sindoor”.
It added that the exercise will involve the three branches of the Indian military and is aimed at demonstrating the country’s “growing joint operational capabilities, self-reliance and innovation”.