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Pakistan refuses use of its airspace, Srinagar-Sharjah flight to take longer route

Pakistan refused use of its airspace for flights from Srinagar to Sharjah.

Because of this decision the flight from Srinagar to Sharjah will be more than an hour longer as planes will have to fly via Udaipur, Ahmedabad and Oman moreover will lead to expensive flight.

The matter has been reported to ministries concerned, including the civil aviation ministry, the external affairs ministry and the home ministry, ANI reported.

Union home minister Amit Shah flagged off the first flight from Srinagar to Sharjah, an international route which was revived almost after 11 years.

As per reports, airline had to change the path of a Srinagar-bound flight after Pakistan closed its airspace. Effective yesterday (Tuesday), Go First has to change the flight path since Pakistan refused right to airspace.

Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, “Pakistan did the same thing with the Air India Express flight from Srinagar to Dubai in 2009-2010. I had hoped that Go First being permitted to overfly Pak airspace was indicative of a thaw in relations, but alas, that wasn’t to be.”

The first international flight from the Srinagar airport to Dubai was started on February 14, 2009 by Air India Express, but the once-a-week service was discontinued due to a low demand.