Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack that took 26 lives, Islamabad decided to close its airspace for all Indian airlines. In a latest development, European airlines, including Air France, British Airways & Swiss flights, have avoided using the Pakistani airspace. In a post on X, flight tracking site Flightradar24 said, "Air France, British Airways & Swiss flights adjusting routing since yesterday to avoid crossing through Pakistan. Some airways in northern Pakistan are NOTAM’d unavailable through May, leading to adjusted routings with Pakistan as well." The post further added, "Lufthansa, ITA Airways, and LOT are joining the list of airlines routing around Pakistan today."
Notably, all countries make their respective risk assessments for overflying any region. If they deem a place unsafe for flying, even if a NOTAM is not issued, they avoid using the airspace.
Some flights, without NOTAM requiring them, avoided the Pakistani airspace, including Bangkok-Munich, Frankfurt-Hyderabad, Munich-Delhi, and Frankfurt-Mumbai, ToI reports. The avoidance resulted in one extra hour of flight.
India has vowed strong retaliation to the terror attacks that rocked Pahalgam earlier this month. On April 22, terrorists opened fire in Kashmir's Pahalgam, killing 26 people, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Resistance Front (TRF), claimed responsibility for the attack.
India's political leadership has allowed "complete operational freedom" to the armed forces to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack.