Air India San Franciso-Delhi Flight Becomes First to Fly Over Reopened Pakistan Air Space, More To Follow In Coming Days

New Delhi, July 15: In a huge relief for Indian airlines, the Pakistan air space is now open for all type of civil traffic on published ATS (air traffic service) routes. Air India San Francisco-Delhi service AI 184 became the first flight by an Indian carrier to fly over the newly re-opened Pakistan air space on its way to Delhi after 4 am.  According to a Times of India report, the flight was en route when they got a message on Tuesday morning that the Pakistan airspace has reopened and therefore they used it. The flight landed 1.5 hours before the scheduled time.

Commenting on this news, an Air India official has been quoted in an ANI update saying, "We are looking into the matter, it will take 2-3 days for scheduling to use Pakistani airspace." Pakistan Opens Air Space Closed Since Balakot Strike, Brings Huge Relief For Indian Airlines.

Check the ANI tweet here:

The Pakistan air space was closed since the Balakot strike and it has now opened after a gap of 5 months. Due to the Pakistan air space closure, it had led to a huge loss for carriers. The Indian carriers have lost about Rs 550 crore till the middle of June due to this.  Air India incurred a loss of Rs 491 crore as of July 2. SpiceJet had lost Rs 30.73 crore till June 20, IndiGo had lost Rs 25.1 crore till May 31, and GoAir Rs 2.1 crore till June 20, according to a Parliamentary reply by Aviation Minister HS Puri.

Most of the airlines had to re-route various international flights due to the closure of the Pakistan airspace.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 16, 2019 01:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).