Relief for flyers, airlines as Pak opens airspace

Pakistan opened its airspace for flights to and from India on Tuesday after a ban of almost four-and-a-half months. Air India and SpiceJet were the first to take advantage of the opened airspace. Air India operated its San Francisco-Delhi and SpiceJet its Jaipur-Dubai flight using the airspace.

Air India might also see its flight operations returning to its original schedule later tonight, said a spokesperson for the airline.

Operation cost

“Aircraft utilisation will go up while crew requirement will come down by 25 per cent. Flight operation costs for US-bound flights may come down by ₹20 lakh one way and for Europe-bound flights it may come down by ₹5 lakh,” the spokesperson added.