Pakistan partially shuts down airspace for Indian flights till August 31

Pakistan’s civil aviation authority has closed three air routes for all the flights coming from India towards Karachi on Wednesday late morning. Henceforth, the three routes for international Karachi-bound flights will remain shut for the flights coming from India.
This decision has been made a day after Pakistan’s Science and Technology Minister Fawad Hussain revealed that Pakistan was considering complete closure of its airspace for all flights coming from India.

The aviation authority sent a notice to airmen to convey the changes. On Tuesday, a cabinet meeting was held in Pakistan, wherein PM Imran Khan expressed his will to close down Pakistan's airspace to Indian PM Narendra Modi.
According to the news reports, all Indian flights bound for Karachi will now have to adhere to the changes made by the Pakistan government till August 31.


On August 22, PM Modi used Pakistan's airspace to visit France. Since there was no ban on using the airspace then, he was permitted by the Pakistan authorities to go ahead.

However, this is not the first incident of airspace closure on Pakistan’s part. On February 26, 2019, Pakistan shut down its airspace after the Balakot strike by the Indian Air Force following the Pulwama blast that killed 40 Indians security personnel. It only opened on July 16 when tension cooled down between the two rival neighbouring nations.
Quite naturally, Pakistan’s airspace closure will affect the operations of many international flights from India, mostly bound for European nations and Afghanistan.