Amidst the political tension between the two neighbouring countries national carrier Air India faces a loss of Rs. 491 crores
The reasons presented by Civil Aviation Minister, Puri Singh in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday is the closure of airspace of Pakistan after the Balakot strike.
Not only the national carrier but the Indian private airlines have been on the losing end as well. As per the data SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir have lost Rs 30.73 crore, Rs 25.1 crore and Rs 2.1 crore, respectively.
Since the Pakistan air closure, the country has only opened two of its 11 air routes, both of which pass through southern Pakistan. While on the contrary the Indian Air Force (IAF) had announced earlier on May 31 of removing the temporary restrictions imposed on Indian airspace.
However, what is to be understood here is that unless Pakistan reciprocates and opens its complete airspace all airlines from both sides of the countries are likely to suffer.
In a written response, Puri said,” The airspace closure by Pakistan is an unilateral measure that followed the non-military counter-terrorism airstrike by the Indian Air Force against terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019. It is for Pakistan to decide.”
Post the airstrike, Air India had to also re-route, merge or suspend many of its international flights that connect India with European and US cities.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline by share in domestic passenger market, has been unable to start direct flights from Delhi to Istanbul due to the closure of Pakistani airspace.
The low-cost carrier started the Delhi-Istanbul flight in March.
This flight has to take the longer route over the Arabian Sea and make a stop at Doha in Qatar for refuelling.
