The recently inaugurated Srinagar-Sharjah direct flight was forced to take a longer route on Tuesday after Pakistan raised objections over the use of its airspace.
An official said the fresh direction to take a longer route was conveyed to the Go First airlines on October 31 after Pakistan “all of a sudden denied the airspace”.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the direct flight between Srinagar and Sharjah on October 23 during his three day visit to J&K.
The flight was seen by many in Kashmir as change in Pakistan’s stand towards India. However, the Pakistan’s move will not only result in increase in the flight time by around 40 minutes but also in a spike in the airfare.
When contacted the Director Airport, Srinagar, was unavailable to comment on the development.
Taking to Twitter, National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah said, “Very unfortunate. Pakistan did the same thing with the Air India Express flight from Srinagar to Dubai in 2009-2010. I had hoped that Go First airways being permitted to overfly Pak airspace was indicative of a thaw in relations but alas that wasn’t to be”.
Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti said it was puzzling that the Government of India didn’t even bother securing permission from Pakistan to use its airspace for international flights from Srinagar. “Only PR extravaganza without any groundwork”, she said.
