The closure of Pakistan’s airspace has resulted in substantial financial losses for Indian airlines with over 1,000 flights incurring costs exceeding over Rs 2 billion in the past nine days.
Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian flights for a period of one month. The restriction, which will remain in effect until May 23rd at 12:00 AM, prohibits Indian airlines and operators from using Pakistani airspace.
Additionally, aircraft leased by Indian entities and operated in India will also be barred from accessing Pakistani airspace.
According to reports, several Indian airlines including Air India, Akasa Air, SpiceJet, IndiGo, and Air India Express have all had flights, which were originally supposed to use Pakistan’s airspace, canceled or rerouted.
the airlines did not provide the customers a refund even when flights were canceled.
Read More: Indian airline sees Pakistan airspace ban costing it $600m over 12 months, seeks aid
The Indian planes have been forced to take longer routes over the Arabian Sea that significantly increases fuel and operational costs.
Flights from major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Amritsar, Bangalore, Ahmedabad have been severely impacted. The rerouting has added 4-10 hours to flight durations, causing inconvenience to passengers.
Indian airlines suffered a loss of Rs 7000 million due to Pakistan airspace closure back in 2019.
The decision to ban Pakistan airspace for Indian flights was taken in an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Committee meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif following India’s provocative move under the garb of the Pahalgam attack
It is pertinent to mention here that tensions have escalated between Pakistan and India after the latter’s baseless allegations against Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which killed 26 persons, the majority of whom were tourists.
Without providing any proof, India accused Pakistan of the attack shortly after it happened.
India’s foreign ministry had announced to hold the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance and close the Attari and Wagah borders. Pakistani nationals will no longer be able to travel to India under the SAARC visa exemption.
The Indian foreign ministry also announced to India recall all its defense attachés from Islamabad.
The Indian foreign ministry maintained that the number of diplomatic staff will be reduced from 55 to 30, asking the military advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi to leave the country within a week.
In a befitting response, Pakistan rejected the Indian announcement to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and closed its airspace to Indian flights.
“Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of National Power”. it added.
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