Sichuan Airlines’ flight leaves for Dubai after Pakistan-India tensions cause delay

A flight that departed China’s Sichuan province for Dubai finally took off early Thursday morning after circling around Sichuan for six hours and arrived at the destination safely.

According to Caixin, a Beijing-based news website, Sichuan Airlines’ flight 3U603 departed from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, at 2:45 pm on Wednesday, and remained in a holding pattern above Sichuan before arriving back at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 8:56 pm.

During the six hours, the plan kept circling so as to burn the fuel to reduce the weight of the plane and ensure the safety of the landing.

The flight was disrupted after tensions flared up between Pakistan and India.

Pakistan’s civil aviation administration closed its air space on Wednesday afternoon.

All the civilian flights were suspended until further information.

According to Sichuan Airlines, the flight applied for new temporary route after the air space was shut down and took off at 1:12 am Thursday morning and arrived at 10:40 am.