Several Asian carriers such as Taiwan’s China Airlines and Korean Air reported yesterday that they were diverting or cancelling flights to and from Europe, and around a dozen Indian airports were closed following clashes between India and Pakistan.
India bombed Pakistani Kashmir and Pakistan claimed to have brought down five Indian fighter aircraft amid speculation of airspace saturation following an attack by Islamist militants that killed 26 in Indian Kashmir last month. Flight tracking websites’ pictures of the attack revealed a queue of airlines travelling in a straight line over Oman, UAE and Kuwait, increasing the chances of air traffic congestion.
Pakistani authorities stated that 57 international flights were flying in Pakistan’s airspace when India attacked, and the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a statement that India’s move “caused grave danger to commercial airlines” of the Gulf countries and “endangered lives”.
India’s civil aviation ministry did not have an immediate response to a call for comment on Pakistan’s statement. Both countries had closed their airspaces for each other’s airlines in the past couple of days. Foreign airlines such as Lufthansa too were avoiding using the Pakistan airspace.
Flights within both nations also faced disruption. IndiGo, the largest Indian airline, informed it was grounding 165 flights through Saturday morning. Its stocks went down 1.1 per cent.
