Pakistan Extends Airspace Ban For India

Pakistan has extended the restriction on its airspace for flights to India until June 28. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had earlier extended the airspace restrictions until June 15. 

After the suspension on overfly operations, flights from Lahore to Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Sri Lanka and Urumqi were cancelled. Pakistan imposed the restrictions after the Indian Air Force violated Pakistani airspace on February 26. Since the latest round of India-Pakistan tensions, Islamabad has only opened two air routes out of 11, both passing through southern Pakistan.

A Pakistan government official told the Press Trust Trust of India that since there has been no official communication between the two countries regarding opening of their airspace, the “status quo” will prevail. Last Wednesday Pakistan granted permission to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flight to use its airspace for his official trip to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, which later Modi refused to use. Earlier, Pakistan had also allowed India’s former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to fly through its airspace to the SCO foreign ministers meeting in Bishkek on May 21.