India on Friday announced the lifting of restrictions on its airspace along the Pakistan border, Hindustan Times reported. The restrictions on air traffic were imposed in February after a surge in hostilities between the neighbouring countries.
The country opened 11 entry and exit points but flights will only be able to use the airspace once Pakistan opens its airspace, a senior official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) told Hindustan Times.
Sushma’s flight to Bishkek was over Pakistani airspace
“We have informed International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and now they will hold consultations with Pakistan. The day Pakistan decides to remove restrictions, flight operations will resume,” the official added.
“This basically is a signal from India that we are willing to lift restrictions and that Pakistan should reciprocate,” an official told The Times of India.
An Indian Air Force (IAF) official stated that the temporary restrictions were in place on the direction of the air force.
Pakistan closed its airspace in February after a suicide bombing in Indian-occupied Kashmir sparked tensions between the neighbours.
Following the attack, warplanes from the two countries also fought a dogfight over Kashmir.
Partial operations at Pakistani airports resumed after the crisis eased, but foreign carriers using Indian airspace could not fly over Pakistan.
Pakistan lies in the middle of a vital aviation corridor and the airspace restrictions impact hundreds of commercial and cargo flights each day, adding flight time for passengers and fuel costs for airlines.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the country on Saturday extended a ban on its airspace for another three days, Express News reported.
Earlier on Friday, it had announced that the country’s airspace would be fully re-opened from today.
Pakistan re-opens airspace
According to a notification issued today, the country’s airspace would now be closed for international transit flights until 3 pm on March 11.
However, it said operations on fixed flights routes between North and South would be permitted.
The CAA added that all working airports of the country would continue their partial flight operations until March 15 while airports in Sialkot, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalpur would remain closed.Islamabad took the decision to shut its airspace on February 27, leaving thousands of travellers stranded and forcing carriers to reroute flights, after an aerial dogfight between Pakistan and Indian air forces.
Flights between Asia and Europe were also disrupted, stranding thousands of passengers.
Later, a partial resumption of flights followed a week of tension that appears to be easing after Pakistan released an Indian pilot shot down during an aerial clash over the Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).
