Pakistan denies airspace to Shah inaugurated Srinagar-Sharjah flight

Pakistan has denied its airspace to the Srinagar-Sharjah flight that Union home minister Amit Shah inaugurated last week, prompting accusations that the Centre had skipped the necessary groundwork in its hurry for feel-good publicity.

Shah had flagged off the maiden flight from Srinagar to Sharjah on October 23 during his high-profile tour of Jammu and Kashmir, predicting it would transform the region’s tourism.

Officials said Pakistan denied its airspace to the Go First flight on Tuesday, after green-lighting the first three of the thrice-a-week flights. This forced the flight to take a longer route via Gujarat, adding around 40 minutes to the normally three-hour flight time.