Air India has said the partial airspace restriction imposed by Pakistan in its present form only requires its flights to make a 12-minute detour and hence does not have much impact.
Pakistan, on Wednesday, partially closed its airspace for all airlines till September 5.
The development comes amid escalating tension between India and Pakistan over Article 370 concerning Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier, Pakistan closed its airspace to all types of civilian traffic for 15-long weeks following the Balakot IAF strikes in February. This was lifted just 22 days ago, on July 15, and, officials said it had cost Pakistan over US $ 55 million as overflight fees.
Air India, however, was now monitoring the situation closely. Its spokesperson said, “One air corridor has been closed [in Pakistani airspace], requiring a maximum of 12 minutes diversion. It will not affect us [much].”
Air India operates around 50 flights daily through the Pakistani airspace. These are flights from Delhi to the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
An official of the Mumbai Air Traffic Control (ATC) said a Notice To Airmen (NOTAM) issued by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority said that three of the nine routes would be unavailable in the Lahore Flight Information Region. As per the NOTAM, the partial closure is between 2.45 a.m. and 11 a.m., excluding Sundays. “Alternate transit routes over Karachi remain open,” the official added.
The move to shut its entire airspace had badly hit Indian and world airlines with the worst affected being flights from Europe and the US flying in and out of Delhi. Air India had to reroute, merge or suspend many of its international flights that connect India with European and U.S. cities.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently told the Lok Sabha that Air India had been incurring an additional operating cost of about ₹ 13 lakhs a day due to rerouting of flights.
