Pakistan on Tuesday has decided to open its airspace for all civil flights. Pakistan had closed its airspace for Indian carriers after the Balakot air strikes in February. Since then the Indian carriers were not passing from here. The Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan issued a notice on it late at 12.41 hrs, stating that “With immediate effect, Pakistan’s airspace is open to all civilian traffic.”
Previously Pakistan claimed that it would not open its airspace for commercial flights until India removed its fighter jets from forward Indian airbases.
Pakistan had fully shut its airspace on the eastern border with India after the Indian Air Force carried out aerial airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot on February 26.The strikes on the terror camp were in response to the JeM-perpetrated terror attack in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on February 14, in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.
In mid of April, Pakistan opened one of its 11 air routes for west-bound flights from India — airlines like Air India and Turkish Airlines have started using it.
In March, it partially opened its airspace but did not allow Indian flight over its airspace.
Since then, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because of this restriction. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia.
Pakistan falls in the middle of a important aviation corridor.So its airspace restrictions, which have been continuing since a long time, impacts hundreds of commercial flights per day, extending flight timings for passengers, as well as fuel costs for airlines.
The move is likely to give major relief to Indian airlines, who suffered massive financial losses throughout the closure as they had to re-route their various international flights.
On the other hand Pakistan too had to suffer heavy losses. According to an estimate, Pakistan receives an average of $ 500 from a flight, but the earnings had ceased since the airspace was closed.
