Pakistan has decided to put a one-month ban on Indian flights, hence they cannot enter Pakistani airspace at all.
The announcement will be made today or tomorrow, as per reports.
Pakistan first put this ban on Indian flights in the last week of April and now it has extended it.
The development has come when the tensions are still there between Pakistan and India. Even after the ceasefire, the situation is not stable.
Under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), no member country can close its airspace for another country for more than a month at a time.
Indian flights are suffering and losing money every day
It is pertinent to mention that so far Indian flights have lost billions of rupees since they are forced to take long routes because of the closure of Pakistan’s airspace.
Even the flights which go to the Western countries, they usually used to go through Pakistan.
According to Reuters, the Indian government is considering options to reduce the hit to the airline industry from the closure of Pakistan’s airspace.
Air India asked the government to liaise with Chinese authorities for certain overflight clearances. Plans are also underway of carrying of extra pilots on flights on the United States and Canada to account for longer travel times.
Closure of airspace in the past
This is not the first time Pakistan has closed its airspace in response to Indian actions. Similar restrictions were imposed during the 1999 Kargil conflict and again in 2019 following the Pulwama attack. On both occasions, the consequences were more severe for India than for Pakistan.
In 2019, Pakistan also shut its airspace to foreign airlines en route to India, significantly widening the disruption.
