By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s airports authority on Tuesday extended its prohibition on Indian-registered aircraft using Pakistani airspace for another month, a step that will carry the restrictions into their second year and continue to impose significant financial strain on Indian airlines.
The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) issued a fresh Notice to Airmen stating that the ban, which covers both of Pakistan’s flight information regions — Karachi and Lahore — will remain in effect until 4:59 a.m. on May 24. The notice explicitly bars “Indian-registered aircraft and Indian airlines/operators, including military flights,” from Pakistani airspace.
The extension comes just days before the previous restriction was scheduled to expire on April 24. First imposed on April 23, 2025, the closure was part of an immediate tit-for-tat response to a sharp escalation in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following a deadly attack in Pahalgam, in Indian occupied Kashmir. That attack killed 26 tourists. Indian officials blamed Pakistan for backing the assault, an allegation Islamabad rejected outright.
Pakistan denied any involvement and offered to support a neutral investigation. Within days, both countries closed their airspace to each other’s airlines, and the dispute rapidly escalated into cross-border strikes. Over four days in early May 2025, the two sides exchanged missile, drone and artillery fire in what became the fiercest air battle between them in years. Pakistan said it downed seven Indian fighter jets before a ceasefire was brokered on May 10.
The airspace ban has been renewed repeatedly since then. Tuesday’s notice marks the latest rollover, ensuring the restrictions will have been in place for a full year by late April. Indian carriers have been forced to reroute long-haul flights that once crossed Pakistani territory, taking longer paths over the Middle East, Central Asia or farther south. The detours have added hours to flight times and substantially increased fuel and operational costs, particularly for services to Europe, the Middle East and North America.
Air India, the country’s flag carrier, has been among the hardest hit. The airline reported a combined loss of about $1.05 billion in its 2024-25 financial year, with the added burden of the airspace closure worsening its financial pressures, according to data cited by Reuters. Pakistan has described the ban as a necessary retaliatory measure against what it called a series of aggressive steps taken by New Delhi. Indian officials have not publicly detailed the cost of the rerouting to their airlines, but industry analysts have long warned that the sustained closure represents a meaningful drag on profitability for carriers already operating in a competitive international environment.
The two countries’ mutual airspace closures have now lasted nearly 12 months with no sign of imminent relief. The PAA notice, posted on its website, offered no additional explanation beyond the security-related prohibition first announced last April. Civil aviation officials in both capitals have treated the restrictions as routine extensions rather than signals of any new diplomatic breakthrough.
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