Pakistan refuses use of air space for India’s Srinagar-Sharjah direct flight

New Delhi : Pakistan has denied the permission to India to use its air space for Srinagar-Sharjah direct flight - operated by low-cost airline Go First - that was inaugurated by Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to J&K last month.

Government sources told news agency ANI that the development has been notified to the Civil Aviation, External Affairs and Home Affairs ministries.

With the development, speculations are being made that the flight will reach the same fate as the 2009 Srinagar-Dubai service due to low demand after Pak closed its airspace.

Re-routing of flights from Srinagar to the United Arab Emirates (to ensure it doesn't cross Pakistani airspace) adds over an hour of flying time, raising fuel and ticket costs.

The first Srinagar-Sharjah flight took off on October 23.

According to flight tracking service Radar24, services up to October 30 crossed Pak airspace but on November 2 the plane flew over Rajasthan and Gujarat, before turning west over the Arabian Sea.

Meanwhile, GoFirst has said that they will continue to provide services for now.

"Regarding the Srinagar-Sharjah flight announced today - has Pakistan had a change of heart and allowed flights originating from Srinagar to use its airspace? If not then this flight will die the way the Srinagar-Dubai flight died during UPA2," Omar Abdullah had tweeted last month.

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