LAHORE/Quetta : Five domestic and international flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) scheduled to land in Karachi and Lahore were diverted to other cities due to dense fog on Thursday morning.

Low visibility at both airports since 2:00 am necessitated flight diversions to nearby airports, PIA spokesman Danyal Gilani said. Four PIA flights — PK-732 from Jeddah to Karachi, PK-214 from Dubai to Karachi, PK-261 from Islamabad to Abu Dhabi, PK-788 from London to Karachi — were diverted to Muscat.

Flight PK-248 from Dammam to Lahore was diverted to Multan. With an improvement in visibility, the flights will depart for their scheduled destinations, spokesman said.

The airline has advised passengers to contact the PIA call centre to confirm flight times before arriving at the airport.

Earlier on Saturday, 45 incoming and outgoing flights to and from Lahore were either cancelled or delayed when dense fog descended on the plains of Punjab and Sindh.

Meanwhile, three flights leaving Quetta for Islamabad and Karachi were cancelled on Thursday due to thick fog.

According to details, a Lahore-bound flight was cancelled while two Islamabad-bound and Karachi-bound were also cancelled. The cancellation of flights irked passengers at Quetta Airport who stage a protest against the inconvenience.