Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Pakistan shut its airspace to Indian flights after the Pahalgam terror attack, hoping to hurt the aviation sector of its neighbouring country. But instead of causing major trouble for India, it looks like Pakistan has shot itself in the foot.
While the move was meant to trouble India, it may actually cost Pakistan millions of dollars in lost aviation revenue.
With Indian flights now avoiding Pakistani skies, the money earned from overflight fees charged to aircraft crossing a country’s airspace is likely to disappear.
A Pakistani user posted a video on social media showing an Indian flight taking a longer route to avoid Pakistan. She commented, “Aur lo Panga.”
Responding to her post, X user Naren Menon pointed out the financial impact of Pakistan’s move.
He wrote, “Pakistan loses ‘overflight fees’ from the 3rd largest (and fastest growing) aviation market in the world. That’s easily hundreds of millions of USD every year. Never in the history of mankind has there been so much collective stupidity in a land.”
Menon explained that the large number of flights from India, especially westwards towards Europe and North America, meant that blocking Indian carriers would be very costly for Pakistan.
Some users suggested that Pakistan would still earn from foreign airlines. However, Menon clarified that most westbound flights from India are operated by Indian airlines like Air India and IndiGo. Therefore, Pakistan stands to lose a major part of its overflight income.
While Indian airlines are preparing for higher fuel costs and longer flight times because of the diversions, Pakistan is facing a direct hit on its aviation income.
This is not the first time such a situation has happened. In July 2019, Hindustan Times reported that Pakistan had lost nearly $100 million when it had closed its airspace after the Pulwama terror attack. Around 400 flights were affected every day during that time, causing huge losses to Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Studies showed that a Boeing 737 flying over Pakistan would pay about $580 in overflight fees. For bigger planes, the fees were even higher. Officials had estimated that Pakistan was losing about $232,000 every day only from overflight charges during that time. When other charges like landing and parking were added, the daily loss went up to around $300,000.
On top of that, Pakistan International Airlines lost nearly $460,000 every day because of suspended international routes and longer flight times on domestic routes. Altogether, the combined daily loss for CAA and PIA reached about $760,000. By the end of the closure period, Pakistan had suffered a total loss of nearly $100 million.
Now, with the fresh airspace closure after the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan could be heading towards similar losses again.
Air India and IndiGo have already said that some of their international flights are facing problems. Flights from cities like Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Varanasi are being forced to take longer routes. Instead of flying over Pakistan, these flights are now taking a longer path over the Arabian Sea.
A senior pilot told PTI that flights to the United States and Europe will take about 2 to 2.5 hours longer because of the new routes. This means higher fuel costs, longer crew hours, and overall delays.
A senior airline official said, “Flights from cities like Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Lucknow, and Varanasi are directly impacted.”
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
