Experts believe that Pakistan's decision to close its airspace to indianairlines following the pahalgam terror attack will have a major impact on the country's aviation revenue. By banning flights from india, the world's third-largest and fastest-growing aviation market, pakistan will completely lose the overflight fees it receives. Recently, a Pakistani user posted a video on social media showing an indian plane traveling a long distance to avoid Pakistani airspace. He then commented, "Fight (Aur Lo Banga)". Responding to this post, X user narain Menon pointed out the economic cost of Pakistan’s move. pakistan is losing overflight fees from the world’s 3rd largest and fastest-growing aviation market. This is hundreds of millions of US dollars every year. He expressed the view that no country has ever done such foolishness in our human history. He said that considering the huge size of India’s aviation industry and its steady growth, the revenue loss pakistan faces by blocking indian flights would be enormous. Narain menon responded to another user’s suggestion that pakistan is still collecting fees from foreign airlines. He also clarified that indianairlines operate most of the flights from india to the west. Leading indianairlines like air india and indigo are facing higher fuel costs and longer travel times as they shift their routes to North America, Europe, and the Middle East. At the same time, Islamabad is immediately losing out on important high-revenue overflight fees. The Hindustan Times reported that pakistan lost around $100 million after it closed its airspace after the Pulwama attack in 2019. At the time, the closure affected around 400 flights daily. As a result, Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and its national carrier, pakistaninternationalairlines (PIA), suffered huge losses. A detailed study conducted between february and the end of june 2019 revealed that around 400 flights were affected daily by the airspace closure. The move forced airlines to avoid Pakistani airspace. This increased their fuel and maintenance costs and extended the working hours of their crews. The economic loss to pakistan was considerable. The overflight fee for aircraft like the Boeing 737 flying through Pakistani airspace was around $580. It was even higher for larger aircraft. Based on this basic fee, officials estimated that the daily loss due to increased air traffic alone was around $232,000. When terminal navigation, landing, and parking charges were added, the daily loss rose to around $300,000.
In addition, pakistaninternationalairlines suffered a loss of almost $460,000 per day due to the suspension of international routes and the increase in the length of domestic routes. The combined daily loss for both the caa and PIA was around $760,000. It is noteworthy that the total loss to pakistan during the previous airspace closure period touched around $100 million. With political tensions between india and pakistan on the rise again following the terrorist attack in pahalgam, Islamabad's current move to close its airspace to indianairlines risks repeating the same dire economic consequences that the country faced five years ago. According to experts, this is a foolish decision by pakistan, which will cause a huge economic setback for the country.
Moreover, this move by pakistan has also called into question its reputation in the international aviation industry. Closing a country's airspace is not only against international norms but also affects its relations with other airlines. pakistan, which is already struggling with an economic crisis, Economists warn that this airspace closure will further burden Pakistan. By banning indian flights, pakistan will not only lose overflight fees. pakistan will also suffer commercial losses due to the disruption of cargo flights from India. This will have a negative impact on trade relations between the two countries. In the absence of smooth relations between the two countries, such measures will further erode them. Pakistan's move has been condemned internationally. Many countries have commented that banning the entire air traffic of a country for a terrorist attack is unjust and that this is not the right way to resolve the problems between the two countries.
The international community has been emphasizing that the best way to resolve the problems is through peaceful negotiations. There is no doubt that this stubborn trend in pakistan will cause further economic crisis for the country. Not only will the loss of revenue due to closing the airspace to indian flights, but the country's credibility will also be questioned internationally. Therefore, everyone expects pakistan to reconsider its decision and move towards a smooth solution. Otherwise, the criticism that there is no such nonsense in history will be proven.
Narain menon responded to another user’s suggestion that pakistan is still collecting fees from foreign airlines. He also clarified that indian airlines operate most of the flights from india to the west. Leading indian airlines like air india and indigo are facing higher fuel costs and longer travel times as they shift their routes to North America, Europe, and the Middle East. At the same time, Islamabad is immediately losing out on important high-revenue overflight fees. The Hindustan Times reported that pakistan lost around $100 million after it closed its airspace after the Pulwama attack in 2019. At the time, the closure affected around 400 flights daily. As a result, Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and its national carrier, pakistan international airlines (PIA), suffered huge losses.
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