Skip to main content

Airspace curbs after Indo-Pak skirmishes affecting hundreds of flights: report

WASHINGTON: Flight restrictions imposed after India-Pakistan skirmishes in February are affecting hundreds of commercial and cargo flights, says OPSGROUP, which monitors international flight operations.

Read: India-Pakistan tensions ground thousands of air travellers worldwide

In a report titled “No end in sight for Pakistan airspace restrictions,” the group calculated that the closed airspace was affecting as many as 350 flights daily. OPSGROUP made this calculation using data provided by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

A map of regional flights, made recently by the Reuters, reported that the restrictions affected at least 311 flights between four airports in Europe and four in Southeast Asia.

Pakistan continues to restrict its airspace after an airstrike in late February by the Indian military in northern Pakistan. Most of the restrictions implemented in February remain in place, effective through to May 15 at the earliest.

Read: Thousands were stranded due to Pakistan's airspace closures. I was one of them

OPSGROUP and FlightRadar24, another flight monitoring agency, noted that the disruption is forcing “international airlines to take costly and time-consuming detours, adding flight time for passengers and fuel costs for airlines”.

Pakistan lies in the middle of a vital aviation corridor. Flights to India often pass directly over Pakistan and some come extremely close to Kashmir, where India and Pakistan engaged in air clashes in February.

FlightRadar24 named Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa and Thai Airways among the airlines whose flights fly close to Kashmir.

The Indian media reported this week that Air India has suffered losses of around Rs300 crore since late February as its long haul flights from New Delhi are taking longer to reach destinations in Europe, the Gulf and the US because of the closure of Pakistan’s airspace.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2019



from The Dawn News - Home http://bit.ly/2GJ4Rkx
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rouhani calls Imran, discusses resumption of trade

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran on Wednesday discussed full resumption of bilateral trade, which was halted last month because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The two sides stressed the need to reactivate borders and border markets and strengthen trade ties by following health guidelines,” a statement issued by the Iranian presidency on the telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Dr Hassan Rouhani said. President Rouhani had called the prime minister for Ramazan greetings. Border trade between the two countries was suspended after a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), held on March 13, decided to close all borders because of the pandemic. Islamabad partially relaxed the restrictions on April 21, allowing the import of certain food items and provision of petrol and diesel to the border areas. Cargo traffic from Iran was allowed for three days every week. Cargo movement between the two countries takes place through five border crossings — Taftan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today’s outlook: Sindh CM discusses reopening markets with PM Khan

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Thursday): Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will take Prime Minister Imran Khan into confidence over reopening shops and markets across the province. The reopened markets will have to follow SOPs. Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah will discuss SOPs with transporters for resuming public transport in the coming days. The meeting will be held at the Sindh Assembly building at 1:30pm. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has proposed a price cut of Rs20.68 per litre for petrol in its summary. Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais has said Masjid Al Haram and Masjid Al Nabawi will be reopened for worshipers soon. He said the Kaaba is being sterilised using latest technologies. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar will head various meetings during his visit to Bahawalpur. As of Thursday, Pakistan has reported more than 15,500 confirmed coronavirus cases. ICYMI: An amendment to the National Accountability Or...
Post a Comment
Read more

If Pakistani elderly self-distance infections could drop 30%: study

If we do nothing, COVID-19 could infect 206 million Pakistanis and kill 691,000. This is the estimation of researchers from the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team who have published country-wise projections in a March 26 report ‘ The Global Impact of COVID-19 and Strategies for Mitigation and Suppression ’ Furthermore, using an infection fatality rate from China, this means 4.4 million Pakistanis would require hospitalisation and from among those, 917,000 individuals would require critical care. Pakistan has a population of 220 million people. The research is based on the infection fatality rate from China, country health care system capacities and that one person with coronavirus is likely to infect 3 others. (You can find the excel sheet with Pakistan numbers here: Imperial-College-COVID19-Global-unmitigated-mitigated-suppression-scenarios.xlsx ) Forty-seven researchers crunched the numbers and made these projections to give countries, including Pakistan, some idea of...
Post a Comment
Read more