Pakistan airspace closure costs Indian Airlines Rs2bn loss in few 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