After water, Pakistan may lose even in air as it loses around $600 per flight by closing its airspace for India

Time of India

29-04-2025

While Indian airlines have started opting for longer routes with a certain rise in flight tickets after Pakistan announced airspace curbs for India, the neighbouring nation might be starring at loses worth millions after this move.
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Airlines pay the civil aviation administration of the country they are flying over a certain fee based on the type of aircraft, the distance covered while overflying a country and the aircraft's all up weight (AUW) or gross weight, which is the weight of an aircraft before it takes off. In Pakistan's case, for a Boeing 737, the charges are $580 through its airspace — which will increase in case an Airbus 380 or Boeing 747 is flying over.
Pakistan last week barred Indian airlines from using its airspace. The closure of the airspace is resulting in longer flying hours for their international flights, especially those flying out from north Indian cities, and pushing up the operational costs of airlines.
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Over 800 weekly flights are operated by Indian airlines to and from north Indian cities to overseas destinations, including North America, the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, as per an analysis of the Cirium data.
How much will closing airspace will cost Pakistan?
Pakistan had closed its airspace on February 26, 2019 after IAF fighter jets had attacked a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot. The airspace at that time was closed for 5 months, resulting in loss of around loses around Rs 700 crore, according to a TOI report.
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The DGCA sets the overflight and landing charges in India, with domestic flights required pay less than international flights. The charges are calculated by multiplying the distance in nautical miles and the weight with a fixed charge component for airspace fees of Rs 5,330 if the fight lands in India. For those flights which are overflying, the charges are calculated on the basis of the route or the airspace fees, the distance and the weight, with an additional amount of Rs 5,080.
Due to closure of airspace by Pakistan, national carrier Air India lost Rs 491 crore till July 2 , according to data presented by civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri in Rajya Sabha. Private airlines
SpiceJet
, IndiGo and GoAir lost Rs 30.73 crore, Rs 25.1 crore and Rs 2.1 crore, respectively, the data stated.
The possible loses comes as the nation struggles with an economic crisis. Pakistan's $350 billion economy struggled as inflation rose to record high of 38.50% in May 2023, with growth turning negative, reserves shrinking to barely a couple of weeks of controlled imports, and interest rates jumping to 22%. It had reserves of just $3.7 billion remaining. For nearly five years, it remained on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for terror funding which made access to loans difficult.
The economic crisis was the most prolonged, pushing the country to the brink of a sovereign default in the summer of 2023. With Pakistan's debt-to-GDP ratio in a danger zone of 70%, and between 40% and 50% of government revenues earmarked for interest payments in 2023, only default-stricken Sri Lanka, Ghana and Nigeria were worse off.
What pulled it back from the brink of sovereign default was a $3 billion short-term financial bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Long-time allies Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China also rolled over billions of dollars in loans.
The World Bank on Wednesday lowered Pakistan's GDP growth forecast to 2.7 per cent for the current fiscal year, citing continued economic stabilisation but persistent constraints from tight monetary and fiscal policies.
Govt works on solutions for Indian airlines:
India is considering the closure of its airspace to Pakistani carriers, a move that would force the rerouting of planes over China or Sri Lanka to reach Southeast Asian destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, said people with knowledge of the matter. India is also contemplating a ban on Pakistani ships from calling at Indian ports. Pakistan had shut its airspace to Indian airlines following New Delhi's measures against its neighbour after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22 that killed 26, mostly tourists.
The government is assessing the situation arising out of the
Pakistan airspace closure
and any decision will be taken only after a thorough understanding, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Monday as he emphasised that it is working with airlines for solutions. Aspects related to airlines as well as passengers, including possible increase in airfares due to higher operational costs, against the backdrop of the airspace closure will also be assessed by the civil aviation ministry.
The minister said he has asked airlines to work out the possibilities and assessment in case the airspace closure for a longer time.
In the current situation, the ministry is looking at the passenger aspects and ensure that safety is the key priority, Naidu said.