Pakistani airspace restrictions keep routes closed\, carriers off balance

Pakistani airspace restrictions keep routes closed, carriers off balance

AFP  |  Karachi 

Restrictions over large swathes of Pakistani airspace continued to affect numerous flight routes, officials said Tuesday, weeks after clashes between and brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war.

"All entry and exit points to and from remain closed," a senior official told AFP on the condition of anonymity, saying the decision to keep portions of the country's airspace closed was reviewed daily by authorities.

The closure of large swathes of the eastern airspace effectively shuts off major international flight routes in and out of and along with select domestic routes.

"At least seven domestic and four international destinations are suspended," International Airlines said.

The national carrier's operations to India, and have all been suspended for nearly a month causing heavy losses to the already struggling

"We can't give an off-hand estimates of the losses but yes the losses have been occurring for sure," Tajwar told AFP.

Aviation experts said the ongoing restrictions have also affected Indian flights headed west over Pakistan.

"are suffering much more compared to Pakistan because their westward operations are much bigger," said Sajid Habib, a former of state-run (CAA).

Information from showed no flights along the border between the two

The crisis between the was first sparked by a suicide bombing in last month that killed 40 Indian security personnel and was later claimed by the Pakistan-based

Days later responded with a cross-border air raid on Pakistan that kicked off a quick succession of attacks and dogfights between the arch-rivals.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, March 19 2019. 19:40 IST