Pakistan has refused its airspace to be allowed for Srinagar-Sharjah direct flights, set to be revived after 11 years.
Due to the 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. The flight will also be more expensive.
The first international flight from the Srinagar airport to Dubai was started on February 14, 2009 by Air India Express. However, the service was discontinued due to low demand.
Calling the move “very unfortunate”, 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.”
After the inaugural flight, Omar Abdullah questioned if Pakistan had allowed the use of its airspace.
The NC leader pointed out that because of Pakistan’s objection to allowing flights originating from Srinagar, the Srinagar-Dubai flight had to make a “technical halt” in Delhi or had to fly south and go around Pakistan airspace, which made the flight completely unviable both in terms of cost and time.
The first international flight from the Srinagar airport to Dubai was started on February 14, 2009 by Air India Express. However, the service was discontinued due to low demand.