Following New Delhi’s forceful diplomatic response to the terror assault, Pakistan blocked its airspace to Indian flights and aircraft on April 24.
Days after the neighboring nation took a similar action in the wake of the Pahalgam terror assault, India has blocked Pakistani aircraft from using its airspace. Pakistan-registered aircraft and aircraft owned, maintained, or leased by Pakistani airlines and operators, including military flights, will not be permitted to use India’s airspace, according to the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) conveying this decision, which was released on Wednesday night. According to the current NOTAM, the ban will remain in effect until the early hours of May 24.
Following New Delhi’s forceful diplomatic response to the terror assault, Pakistan blocked its airspace to Indian flights and aircraft on April 24. Over 800 weekly Indian airline flights heading west from airports in Northern India are expected to be impacted by Pakistan’s action. According to a review of airline schedule data, these aircraft now have to deal with longer flight durations, higher fuel consumption, and a few additional crew and flight scheduling complications.
On their way to different locations in the west of India, all of these planes frequently passed over Pakistan. The first effects are already apparent, as Indian airlines are moving from their usual routes to lengthier ones for flights from North India to West Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the UK, and the eastern part of North America. Additionally, several of Air India’s ultra-long-haul flights to and from North America are currently experiencing technical halts at European airports, which are scheduled stops for crew changes or refueling. This interrupts the otherwise continuous flight path.
India’s airspace closure is unlikely to have as big of an impact because, in contrast to India’s thriving aviation industry, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the country’s flag carrier, is failing and only operates internationally, mostly to the west of the country.
PIA only runs six flights per week, from Lahore and Islamabad to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, which were often flying over India, according to airline schedule data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Furthermore, according to flight tracking data, these flights were avoiding Indian airspace and instead taking a longer and more detour through the territory of China and other Southeast Asian nations in order to reach Kuala Lumpur, as tensions between India and Pakistan increased last week after the terror incident.
The national carrier of Pakistan has not been conducting flights to any other nation that would require it to cross Indian airspace. It does have flights to China, but they fly north, which enables them to fly straight from Pakistani territory into Chinese airspace. There are no flights to the east of the country operated by any other Pakistani airline.
