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RAWALPINDI: The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) has extended the airspace restrictions on Indian aircraft for another month, till December 24.
The new ban for Indian aircraft has been notified just four days before a previous one is set to expire, according to a notice to airmen (Notam) issued on Wednesday. The latest restriction went into effect from 2:50pm Pakistan time on November 19 to 4:59am on December 24, the notice said.
The ban will apply to all India-registered aircraft as well as any aircraft operated, owned, or leased by Indian airlines or operators, including military flights. The airspace closure applies from ground level up to unlimited altitude.
India and Pakistan have closed their airspaces to each other’s airlines since tensions between them escalated in April in the wake of an attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people. Last month, Islamabad extended the airspace ban till November 24.
Pakistan’s airspace is divided into two flight information regions (FIRs) — Karachi and Lahore, according to a Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) document from 2022. The Notam applies to both the Karachi (OPKR) and Lahore (OPLR) FIRs.
On April 24, in response to India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan had announced a series of measures, including the closure of its airspace to all India-owned or Indian-operated airlines.
It may be noted that due to the financial toll of a ban on Indian carriers flying over Pakistan, Air India is lobbying the Indian government to convince China to let it use a sensitive military airspace zone in Xinjiang to shorten routes.
For Air India, the country’s only carrier with a major international network, fuel costs have risen by as much as 29 per cent and journey times by up to three hours on some long-haul routes, Reuters reported, citing a document submitted to Indian officials in late October.
The airline, owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, estimated the Pakistan airspace closure’s impact on its profit before tax at $455 million annually — a significant amount given its fiscal 2024-25 loss stood at $439m.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2025
