Pakistan opens its airspace once again

Move comes after Putin asks for a quick settlement between angry neighbours

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: As Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a phone call and hoping for a quick settlement of the crisis between India and Pakistan, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Pakistan announced that they have re-open its airspace with restrictions.

Both Putin and Modi also expressed their interest in further strengthening of military-technical ties, the Kremlin said in a statement yesterday.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has already offered to facilitate talks between the two sides.

That seems to be a motivation to both sides and after thousands of passengers were left stranded worldwide when Islamabad shut down air travel as tensions with neighbouring India soared on Thursday, the Pakistan government seems to want to cool down the current crisis between the two countries.

“We will open our airspace for inbound and outbound flights at Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta airports,” said Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) spokesman Aamir Mehboob.

Other airports would be opened “gradually”, he said.

The CAA tweeted that passengers should check with their airlines for more details as things will be more normalised today.

The decision to close airspace on Wednesday came after a rare aerial dogfight between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in the skies over the disputed territory of Kashmir ignited fears of an all-out conflict, with world powers rushing to urge restraint.

Both sides claimed to have shot each other’s warplanes down, and one Indian pilot was captured. Pakistan said he will be returned to India in an overture towards New Delhi.

The airspace closure disrupted major routes between Europe and South Asia, with mounting frustration from passengers stranded at international airports.

Thai Airways cancelled nearly 30 flights, affecting 5,000 passengers. The decision affected services to London, Munich, Paris, Brussels, Milan, Vienna, Stockholm, Zurich, Copenhagen and Oslo.

Singapore Airlines was also forced to divert Europe-bound flights to Mumbai and Dubai to refuel, while a flight to Frankfurt was cancelled.

Emirates, Qatar Airways, Saudi Airlines, and Air Canada were all also among other carriers forced to cancel and divert many of their flights.