Pakistan has extended its airspace ban for Indian aircraft until January 23, 2026, continuing restrictions imposed after the Pahalgam attack. India has reciprocated with a similar ban.
An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Srinagar encountered severe turbulence near Pathankot on Wednesday, prompting the crew to request permission to enter Pakistani airspace to avoid the weather. However, their request was denied. The aircraft, an A321 neo operating flight 6E 2142, experienced hailstorm and turbulence, triggering various warnings and forcing the autopilot to trip. The crew managed to safely land the aircraft in Srinagar after a harrowing experience. The incident is under investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which confirmed there were no injuries to passengers but noted damage to the aircraft's nose radome.
IndiGo's Sharjah-Hyderabad flight was diverted to Karachi as a precaution on Sunday after pilots observed defect in one of the engines, officials of aviation regulator DGCA said.
The passenger who had the medical emergency could not be revived and was declared dead on arrival by the airport medical team, IndiGo said in a statement.
Pakistani officials on Tuesday alleged that two Indian fighter jets entered seven km into the country's airspace over Punjab province. They said the incident occurred over Pakpattan district, 200 km from the provincial capital of Lahore.
A Qatar Airways Delhi-Doha passenger plane was diverted to Karachi on Monday after it declared an emergency due to indication of smoke in the cargo hold, the airline said.
A Pakistani passenger plane with 127 people on board crashed due bad weather near the Chaklala airbase in Rawalpindi on Friday evening, Pakistani defence sources have said at least 118 passengers have been killed in the crash.
Thousands of travellers suffer flight cancellations, delays and soaring ticket prices due to Pakistan's decision to close its airspace for flights to and from India.
The two episodes on a single day have taken the total number of technical malfunction incidents involving SpiceJet aircraft to seven in the last 17 days.
This closure has led to increase in flight duration and has put a strain on Mumbai's air traffic controllers, who are working extra shifts to handle the increase in traffic.
The move is expected to give a major relief to Air India, which suffered a huge financial loss of around Rs 491 crore.
"Are they ready to review their decisions? If they do, we can also review our decisions. Review will be on both sides," Qureshi said.
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