Pakistan to not open its airspace until India removes fighter jets from forward bases

Pakistan on Friday said that it will not open its airspace until India removes its fighter jets from forward Indian Air Force (IAF) bases, the country's Aviation Secretary Shah­rukh Nusrat told a parliamentary committee.

Pakistan had closed its airspace in February after it launched an attack on Indian military installation in response to Indian strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps in Balakot on February 26.

The closure of Pakistan airspace has caused a loss of $100 million to Pakistan.

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Even as the closure of Pakistan airspace impacts millions of passengers across the world, India has reacted saying its a unilateral decision by Islamabad to close their airspace and up to them to remove any restrictions.

The closure is impacting many Afghans who travelled to India on a regular basis but now have to pay more to travel. The time taken has also significantly increased from just one and a half hour to more than 3 hours now.

Its also impacting Indian students in central Asian countries like Kyrgyzstan due to non-availability and high cost of flights to India. Many International airlines have cancelled flights to India due to the closure of Pakistan airspace.