Pakistani Airspace Reopened for Civil Flights

Following the escalating military tension between India and Pakistan in the wake of the airstrike across the international border carried out by a fleet of Mirage 2000 combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on February 26 this year, Pakistan had fully closed its airspace for all flights operated by international civil aviation transiting across its airspace particularly the Eastern border with India. The airstrike had been carried out by the IAF in response to the terrorist strike in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in which a large number of Indian security personnel were martyred and injured. The aim of the airstrike undertaken by the IAF was to destroy the terrorist training camp along with the infrastructure belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), located in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. As a retaliatory measure, India too had closed its airspace to civil aircraft taking off from Pakistan.

To say that the impact of this move was financially disastrous for the Indian airline industry would be somewhat of an understatement. As per the newly appointed Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, Indian carriers had suffered a loss of at least 549 crore due to the closure of its airspace by Pakistan since February 27, 2019. As per the data provided by the Indian Minister of Civil Aviation to the Rajya Sabha, losses suffered by the Indian carriers were SpiceJet 30.73 crore till June 20, IndiGo 25.1 crore till May 31, GoAir 2.1 crore till June 20 and Air India 491 crore as of July 2. Air India was the worst hit as it had the largest number of flights operating through Pakistani airspace that were affected by the decision of the Government of Pakistan.

However, it was not only the Indian airline industry, but even the Pakistani airline industry suffered financially from the adverse consequences of shutting down civil flights in its airspace. As Pakistan is located in the middle of an aviation corridor, the airspace restrictions on use of airspace over its territory adversely affected a large number of scheduled commercial passenger and cargo flights every day. As civil aircraft operating in this region that connect South East Asia with the Central Asian Republics, the Middle East region or even Europe, were not permitted to fly through the airspace over Pakistan, they were compelled to reroute to avoid transiting through restricted airspace. This added to both flight time and number of refuelling halts, significantly enhancing fuel consumption and consequently the overall cost of operations of the airlines involved.

Given the fragile state in which the economy of Pakistan has been and is currently in, the loss of revenue for her which was significantly high, ought to have been a matter of serious concern for the decision makers in the country. As per the Minister of the civil aviation in Pakistan, the airline industry in his country suffered huge losses on account of the restrictions imposed by their Government since February 27, 2019, on the use of its airspace by the civil aviation industry. Not only did it affect hundreds of their own commercial and cargo flights, the Pakistan Government lost considerable revenue that was accruing from landings and takeoffs by more than 400 commercial and cargo flights from civil airfields in Pakistan every day. This translated into a loss of around $100 million or equivalent of Indian 6.85 billion on a daily basis. Pakistan earns good money from route navigation and airport charges levied on flights using its airspace or landing for maintenance or refueling. These charges vary according to the size and class of aircraft. Pakistan International Airlines is reported to have suffered loss of more than $4,50,000 a day due to closure of Indian airspace for its flights to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. This step by Pakistan not only had a deleterious effect on the national economy and the airline industry of India and Pakistan, but that of several other countries as well including some private companies operating commercial aviation aircraft in this region.

Even after de-escalation of the situation on the border, Pakistan was adamant that the IAF pull back its combat squadrons from forward bases Quite understandably, this was not acceptable to India. However, despite India’s firm stand of not acquiescing to the demand of relocation combat aircraft deployed at forward bases, after 140 days, on account of immense financial pressures, Pakistan finally opened its airspace to all civil air traffic on July 16, 2019. This has undoubtedly come as a tremendous relief to the global airline industry.