{"id":103917,"date":"2026-01-20T15:32:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/pakistan-extends-ban-on-indian-aircraft-until-feb-24-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:32:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:32:05","slug":"pakistan-extends-ban-on-indian-aircraft-until-feb-24-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/pakistan-extends-ban-on-indian-aircraft-until-feb-24-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan extends ban on Indian aircraft until Feb 24 | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Airspace will remain closed to all India-registered aircraft, including military aircraft<\/p>\n

An Air India passenger plane takes off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad January 30, 2013. REUTERS\/Amit Dave\/Files <\/p>\n

\n

The Pakistan Aviation Authority (PAA) on Tuesday\u00a0extended restrictions on the use of the country’s\u00a0airspace by Indian-registered aircraft by an additional month, maintaining a ban that applies to all civilian and military flights linked to India.<\/p>\n

Under the new official Notice to Airmen, the PAA said Pakistan’s airspace would\u00a0remain closed to all aircraft registered in India, including planes owned, operated or leased by Indian airlines. The restriction also covers Indian military flights.<\/p>\n

The PAA said\u00a0the ban, which is already in force, will continue until February 24,\u00a0subject to the specified timings outlined in the notice.<\/p>\n

Read<\/strong>: What Pakistan’s airspace ban means for Indian air travel<\/a><\/p>\n

The ban was first enforced following a flare-up between the two nuclear-armed neighbours earlier this year. Although a ceasefire was brokered through US mediation, the airspace restrictions have remained in place.<\/p>\n

Last month, the PAA\u00a0had similarly extended the ban until January 23, reaffirming its continued enforcement despite diplomatic backchannels.<\/p>\n

The restriction is causing significant losses to Indian airlines, which have to take much longer routes to reach destinations in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. The closure of Pakistan’s airspace to Indian carriers has intensified Air India’s operational and financial woes<\/a>, prompting the airline to lobby the Indian government to seek access to sensitive military airspace over China\u2019s Xinjiang region.<\/p>\n

The ban has forced longer detours on long-haul routes, increasing fuel costs by up to 29% and adding as much as three hours to journey times.<\/p>\n

Air India estimates the ban has cut its annual profit before tax by $455 million, surpassing its fiscal 2024\u201325 loss of $439m, forcing the airline to seek temporary subsidies from the government until Pakistan reopens its airspace, with estimated weekly losses of $1.13m.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Airspace will remain closed to all India-registered aircraft, including military aircraft An Air India passenger plane takes off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad January 30, 2013. REUTERS\/Amit Dave\/Files The Pakistan Aviation Authority (PAA) on Tuesday\u00a0extended restrictions on the use of the country’s\u00a0airspace by Indian-registered aircraft by an additional month, maintaining a ban […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/1293615-air-1484289535\/1293615-air-1484289535-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t