Pak-India fighting
\nPM\u2019s office said India\u2019s action \u2018caused grave danger to commercial airlines\u2019 belonging to Gulf countries
\n TAIPEI\/NEW DELHI
\nAirlines including United Airlines and Korean Air re-routed or cancelled flights and about a dozen Indian airports were shut on Wednesday after India staged a reprisal attack on Pakistan that raised fears of an escalation.
\nIndia attacked Azad Kashmir and Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the flare-up, which followed an attack that killed 26 people in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir(IIOJK) last month.
\nImages from flight tracking websites showed a long line of airlines passing over Oman, UAE and Kuwait after the attack, raising the possibility of airspace congestion.
\nAuthorities in Pakistan said 57 international flights were in the country\u2019s airspace when India struck. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s office said India\u2019s action \u201ccaused grave danger to commercial airlines\u201d belonging to Gulf countries and \u201cendangered lives\u201d.
\nIndia\u2019s civil aviation ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pakistan\u2019s remarks.
\nIn the last few days, India and Pakistan have shut their airspaces to each other\u2019s airlines. Global airlines like Lufthansa have also been avoiding Pakistan\u2019s airspace.
\nDomestic flights in both countries were also disrupted. 3 % of scheduled flights in India and 17% of scheduled flights in Pakistan were cancelled as of 1030 GMT, according to Flightradar24.
\nIndia\u2019s top airline, IndiGo, said it was cancelling 165 flights till Saturday morning. Its shares were down 1.1%. Flights belonging to Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air were also cancelled.
\nPakistan said its airspace was open following closure after the attacks and that its airports were \u201cfully functional.\u201d
\nImages from FlightRadar24 showed some civilian jets flying over Pakistan airspace but India\u2019s northwest continued to be deserted.
\nGPS spoofing concern
\nThe changing airline schedules are set to further complicate operations in the Middle East and South Asia regions for carriers, which are already grappling with the fallout from conflicts in the two regions.
\nA spokesperson for Dutch airline KLM said it was not flying over Pakistan until further notice. Singapore Airlines said it had stopped flying over Pakistani airspace since May 6.
\nKorean Air said it had begun rerouting its Seoul Incheon\u2013Dubai flights on Wednesday, opting for a southern route that passes over Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India, instead of the previous path through Pakistani airspace.
\nUnited Airlines said it had cancelled its flight to Delhi, citing in part \u201cairspace limitations\u201d. The US airline operates one direct flight from Newark to New Delhi.
\nThai Airways said flights to destinations in Europe and South Asia would be rerouted starting early on Wednesday morning, while Taiwan\u2019s China Airlines said flights to and from destinations including London, Frankfurt and Rome had been disrupted.
\nFlights from India to Europe were also seen taking longer routes. Lufthansa flight LH761 from Delhi to Frankfurt took about half an hour more to reach its destination compared to Tuesday, according to FlightRadar24.
\nThe Association of Asia Pacific Airlines voiced concern over the impact of conflicts on airline operations.
\n\u201cApart from cost and operational disruption, there are safety concerns as GPS spoofing interfering with flight operations over conflict zones is one of the highest risks the industry faces,\u201d it said in a statement.
\nGPS spoofing is a malicious technique that manipulates Global Positioning System (GPS) data, which can send commercial airliners off course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pak-India fighting PM\u2019s office said India\u2019s action \u2018caused grave danger to commercial airlines\u2019 belonging to Gulf countries TAIPEI\/NEW DELHI Airlines including United Airlines and Korean Air re-routed or cancelled flights and about a dozen Indian airports were shut on Wednesday after India staged a reprisal attack on Pakistan that raised fears of an escalation. India […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-477072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n