Pak denies use of its airspace to Srinagar-Sharjah direct-flight

According to flight-tracking service Radar24, till October 30 the services in the route crossed Pakistan's airspace but on November 2 the plane flew over Rajasthan and Gujarat, before turning west over the Arabian Sea.

The Civil Aviation, External Affairs and Home Affairs ministries had been informed of this development, government sources told news agency ANI Wednesday.

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

It takes an hour of extra flying time and increase in fuel and ticket costs, if flights from Srinagar to the United Arab Emirates do not fly over Pak territory.

In 2009, the Srinagar-Dubai service was stopped the demand for the service fell after Pak closed its airspace.

Now, it is being feared that the Srinagar-Sharjah direct-flight may meet the same fate.

Go First, the airline operating the direct-flight,  said it plans to continue offering the service (on alternate days) for now, according to NDTV.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti slammed the government for launching the flight service without laying the necessary groundwork.

"Puzzling the Government of India didn't even bother securing permission from Pakistan to use its airspace for international flights from Srinagar. PR extravaganza without groundwork," she tweeted.

 National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, tweeted, "Very unfortunate. Pakistan did the same thing with the Air India Express flight from Srinagar to Dubai in 2009-2010. I had hoped Go First being permitted to overfly Pak airspace was indicative of a thaw in relations but alas that wasn't to be."