Air India is incurring a loss of around Rs three crore a day on its Europe and US flights due to the closure of Pakistan airspace, a senior airline official said on Thursday. Last Wednesday, Pakistan closed its airspace to all flights over its territory, forcing airlines from India and other countries to take a detour. This has led to an increase in flight duration and has also put a strain on air traffic controllers in Mumbai, who are working extra shifts to handle the increase in traffic.
On Friday, Pakistan’s civil aviation authority extended the closure by another day till Friday afternoon. Flights within and to Pakistan from overseas have been operating for the past few days.
