How a Notam caused confusion over India airspace closure

KARACHI: Pakistan’s 11 air traffic routes continue to remain open for Indian flights contrary to media reports that three of them via Karachi had been closed.

The confusion arose when the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued a Notam (notice to airmen) about three alternate routes for Karachi.
Under the CAA’s standard operating procedure, whenever an unusual decision regarding the closure of route is made, it immediately informs all the airlines around the world about it through a notam so that they could reorganise their routes and issue a new schedule accordingly for their arrival and departure.

Since the Notam came soon after Pakistan announcement that it was considering a complete airspace closure to India in the wake of a spike in tensions over the developments in occupied Kashmir, some sections of the media erroneously reported that Islamabad had shut down three air routes for Indian flights.

The international media also reported the closure of the routes citing the incorrect local reports.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi later clarified that the decision on airspace closure to India would be taken by the prime minister.

Several Indian flights use Pakistani airspace to travel west, mostly towards destinations in Europe and the US. Therefore, Indian suffers greater losses in comparison with those of Pakistan.

When Pakistan shut down 11 routes for India flights on February 27 that lasted till July 5, the Indian civil aviation suffered a loss of Rs11.5 billion and that was excluding the losses suffered by the country’s airlines.

In contrast, Pakistan suffered a loss of Rs8 billion.

However, the CAA has received no directives by the government so far to close airspace to India.

On August 27, the federal cabinet members expressed their concerns over allowing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use Pakistani airspace, demanding placing a complete ban on Indian flights.

“The decision to close the eastern airspace for commercial flights from India is expected within two days,” said Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan while informing the media about the minutes of the cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair.

Taking to Twitter, Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced that the government was considering a “complete closure of airspace to India and complete ban on use of Pakistan land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan”. He said legal options were being explored before taking the final decision.

However, a day later, the foreign minister clarified that the government has not yet taken a final decision to impose a blanket ban on India using Pakistan’s airspace.

Qureshi said the issue did come up for discussions during the federal cabinet meeting but the final decision in this regard would be taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Pakistan has already downgraded diplomatic ties with India and suspended the bilateral trade in reaction to New Delhi’s decision on August 5 regarding revoking the special status of occupied Kashmir.