Pakistan has once again extended the general closure of its airspace for an additional day, making it the sixth day in a row that airspace over the country has been restricted. The general closure of airspace has been extended till Wednesday (March 6), aviation tracker Flightradar24 said today.

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority had announced on Monday morning that its airspace had fully reopened. However, the decision was delayed to Tuesday (March 6) and has now been further delayed to Wednesday.

The earlier extension announcement said Pakistan airspace would remain closed for all operations until Monday (March 5), 8 am and that flights would be operational only from a few airports.

Today, the general closure of airspace was extended for another day. This makes it the sixth day in a row of Pakistan largely shutting down air travel.

The only airports functional in Pakistan are those of Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad, Lahore, and Faisalabad, subject to routing restrictions.

Pakistani authorities announced Friday (March 1) that flight operations at Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta airports were resumed.

Pakistani airspace has been closed since February 27, the day Indian Air Force carried out an airstrike in Pakistan.

The closure of Pakistan's airspace has left thousands of air travellers stranded and has led to over 700 international and domestic flights were cancelled during the past week to and from Pakistan, including flights to New Delhi.

The airspace closure comes at a time of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.

Tensions rose after the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) carried a suicide bombing attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, killing 40 CRPF jawans on February 14.

Following this, the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out an airstrike targeting the biggest Jaish training camp near Balakot deep inside Pakistan early on February 26.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations the next day. However, the IAF thwarted their plans. IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman shot down an F-16 fighter of the Pakistan Air Force shortly before his jet was hit during the fierce dogfight and he was captured by Pakistan. He was released two days later.

(With inputs from PTI)