Airspace Will Be Closed Until India Withdraws Fighter Jets From IAF Forward Airbases: Pakistan
Mumbai: Pakistan will not open its airspace for commercial flights unless New Delhi removes its fighters from the next Air Force airbase, Pakistan’s aviation secretary Shahrukh Nusrat informed a parliamentary committee.
After fighter jets of Indian Air Force (IAF) attacked the terrorist training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot after the terrorist attack in Pulwama, Kashmir, Pakistan closed its air sector completely on February 26 Gave.
Aviation secretary Nusrat, who is also the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), informed the senate standing committee of the airline on Thursday that his department has informed Indian officials that the Pakistani airspace will be unavailable for the use of India. Until that country does not take back Don News told that fighter jets of forwarding positions.
Nusrat told the committee, “The Indian government asked us to open the airspace. We have conveyed to our concerns that first India should withdraw its fighters.”
This is probably the first time that a senior Pakistani official has publicly told Islamabad the preconceived idea to reopen its air sector after the Balakot air raids.
Nusrat said, “However, Indian officials have been told that Indian airbases are still fighter jets and Pakistan will not resume flying operations from India.”
“Pakistani flights from Thailand have not been restored since the closure of the Indian airspace. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights for Malaysia also remain suspended,” the CAA DG informed the committee.
Due to airspace restrictions by Pakistan, the Indian aviation industry has suffered huge losses.
On Thursday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Parliament that due to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace, Air India had to spend Rs 430 crores on long routes.
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