India has requested Pakistan to grant overflight clearance to GoFirst airline’s Srinagar-Sharjah flight keeping in mind the larger interest of common people who have booked tickets for the route, government officials said on November 4.
Pakistan on November 2 did not allow the Srinagar-Sharjah flight to use its airspace, forcing it to take a longer route and fly over Gujarat to reach its destination in the UAE, they mentioned.
GoFirst, previously known as GoAir, had started direct flights between Srinagar and Sharjah from October 23 and the service was inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his visit to the Valley last month.
“Pakistani authorities had granted overflight clearance to GoFirst flights to operate the Srinagar-Sharjah sector on October 23rd, 24th, 26th and 28th,” a source said. Sources said subsequently, Pakistan put the clearance for the same flight on hold for the period from October 31 to November 30. “This matter was promptly taken up with Pakistan through diplomatic channels and we have requested Pakistan to grant overflight clearance for this flight in the larger interest of the common people who have booked tickets on this route,” the source said.
The officials the November 2 service had to take a longer route, adding around 40 minutes to the flight time on the onward journey as well as the return journey.Longer route means higher fuel consumption, which may push the airline to increase the ticket prices or turn this non-stop service to one-stop service.Therefore, the officials said that India has requested Pakistan to grant the overflight clearance to this flight keeping in mind the larger interest of common people who have booked the tickets on this service.Officials said the flight, which operates four times a week, did not face any issue when it used Pakistan airspace between October 23 and October 31.Go First has not issued any statement or comment on this matter as yet.The Pakistan government, however, allowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special flight to Italy to use its airspace on October 29 to attend the G20 summit. His return flight from Italy was also allowed to use the Pakistan airspace on November 3, officials said.
