Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Administration opened its airspace “with restrictions” Friday, clearing airlines to resume flights over its territory for the first time since February 27, when authorities barred any overflights in response to escalating tensions in Kashmir. The Notam expired on Thursday night, soon after the CAA temporarily lifted its restrictions to allow at least three commercial flights to depart Peshawar. &nbsp;

 


Flight operations to and from Islamabad, Quetta, Peshawar, and Karachi resumed under restricted airspace on Friday at 1 p.m. Pakistan time.

 


Soon after the CAA’s announcement, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced that its flights to Jeddah, Dubai, Madina, and Dammam would depart Friday evening. Bahrain’s Gulf Air and Dubai’s Emirates said they would resume Peshawar, Karachi, and Islamabad flights immediately. However, Gulf Air’s service to Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Lahore remained canceled and Emirates said it would not resume its service to and from Lahore and Sialkot until March 4.

 


Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines resumed direct flights between Singapore and Europe after the airspace closure over Pakistan forced refueling stops in Mumbai and Dubai for services such as Singapore-Frankfurt and Singapore-London. One of the most severely affected carriers, Thai Airways, finally began flying thousands of passengers stranded in Bangkok to their European destinations Thursday evening after receiving permission to use Chinese airspace.

 


The airspace closure came almost immediately after Pakistani warplanes shot down an Indian MiG-21, as hostilities with India reached a crisis level on Wednesday. Efforts to ease tensions saw Pakistan on Friday hand over an Indian pilot who parachuted&nbsp;into Pakistani territory.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

News about commercial airlines, including regulations, aircraft orders, safety, acquisitions, and mergers.

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News about environmental issues relating to aircraft operations, including noise issues, emissisions, and regulations. See Fuel for biofuel.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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News and developments about everything that goes into the cabin of an aircraft, from floor coverings to headliners, with a special emphasis on in-flight entertainment, communications and other electronics for passengers. If it is in the cabin of an aircraft, it’s covered here.

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