Pakistan Extends Its Airspace Ban on Indian Aircraft to 24 November: Airspace Law, ICAO and the India-Pakistan Background
The Pakistan Airports Authority issued a fresh NOTAM (Notice to Airmen, an official alert to pilots and airlines) that keeps Pakistani airspace closed to Indian aircraft until 4:59 am on 24 November 2026. The previous closure was due to end on 24 October.
The ban covers aircraft registered in India and aircraft owned, operated or leased by Indian airlines or operators. It also covers Indian military flights.
It applies to both of Pakistan's Flight Information Regions (FIRs), Karachi and Lahore. An FIR is a block of sky in which one country gives air traffic and flight information services.
Pakistan first shut its airspace to Indian airlines on 24 April 2025, after the terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on 22 April 2025. India closed its own airspace to Pakistani airlines and aircraft from 30 April 2025.
Both countries have renewed these closures roughly every month since then. Indian flights to West Asia, Europe and North America have to take longer routes over the Arabian Sea, which adds flying time and fuel cost.
Chicago Convention, 1944 and Airspace Sovereignty
The Chicago Convention, officially the Convention on International Civil Aviation, is the main international treaty that governs flying between countries. Its very first rule says that every country has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory. In simple words, the sky above a country belongs to that country, just like its land. The Convention also set up the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and gave the world common rules for safe, orderly air travel.
Pakistan's ban rests on Article 1: it owns the sky above it and can deny entry to foreign aircraft. The NOTAM, issued for its Karachi and Lahore FIRs and naming "Indian registered aircraft", uses the exact tools the Chicago system created. The fact that the ban targets only one country's aircraft links directly to the Article 9 debate on nationality-based restrictions.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
The International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO, is the United Nations body that sets the worldwide rules for civil aviation. It writes the safety, security, navigation and environmental standards that airports, airlines and air traffic controllers follow everywhere. It was created by the Chicago Convention of 1944, and its headquarters is in Montreal, Canada. As of 2025, it has 193 member states, including India.
ICAO's standards shape how this ban is announced (an Annex 15 NOTAM) and the Council is the body to which either country could take an airspace dispute under Article 84, as Pakistan did in 1971. But ICAO cannot order a member to open its airspace, which is why such closures can be renewed month after month.
Operation Sindoor (May 2025)
Operation Sindoor was India's military operation against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in May 2025. It followed the terror attack at Pahalgam on 22 April 2025, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. The operation began on 7 May 2025 with precision strikes on nine terror-linked sites, and grew into four days of fighting before both sides agreed to stop military action on 10 May 2025.
The airspace ban is one of the non-military measures taken by both countries in the crisis that led to Operation Sindoor. Its monthly renewal, well over a year later, shows that ties remain frozen even though the fighting stopped in May 2025.
- New end date of Pakistan's ban: 4:59 am, 24 November 2026 (previous end date: 24 October 2026)
- Issued by: Pakistan Airports Authority, through a NOTAM
- Covers: Indian-registered aircraft and aircraft owned, operated or leased by Indian airlines or operators, including military flights
- Airspace covered: Karachi and Lahore Flight Information Regions
- Pakistan's ban began: 24 April 2025; India's reciprocal ban began: 30 April 2025
- Trigger: Pahalgam terror attack, 22 April 2025 (26 killed)
- Earlier closure: late February to 16 July 2019 (after Pulwama and Balakot)
- Chicago Convention: signed 7 December 1944, in force 4 April 1947; Article 1 = airspace sovereignty
- ICAO: headquarters Montreal, 193 members, 36-member Council; India in Part II for 2025-2028