Pakistan airspace closure costs Indian airlines Rs2b losses

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, reported 24NewsHDTV Chnanel.

Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian flights for a period of one month. The restriction, which will remain in effect until May 23rd, 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, cancelled or rerouted. 

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 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.