Overflight revenue surged as CAA recovering from COVID impacts

KARACHI : The aviation industry of Pakistan has witnessed a surge in overflight revenue after a substantial decline in COVID-19 cases following the effective policies of the federal government. The overflight revenue of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was significantly increased up to Rs30 million per day as the air transportation surged after the reopening of airspace for foreign flights. According to the CAA spokesperson, the number of foreign flights passing over Pakistan’s airspace has reached more than 350 a day. The aviation authority earned Rs490 million after 4,138 flights travelled through the airspace during the last 15 days of August. During the first week of this month, 1,886 flights have used Pakistan’s airspace including 1,220 from Karachi region and 666 from Lahore region, whereas, effective policies for the aviation sector as per guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) led to an increase in landing and take-off of aircraft of foreign airlines, added the spokesperson.The authority detailed that more than 55 flights are arriving and departing from the country’s major airports in a day. The overflying revenue had massively been declined during the peak of coronavirus pandemic as the number of flights reduced up to 50 to 60 flights. It emerged in July that the aviation industry had suffered a loss of over Rs30.5 billion in four months due to limited flight operations in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The financial dent suffered by the aviation sector in the month of March had been recorded up to Rs3.6 billion owing to the suspension of flights to different counters amid coronavirus outbreak. According to Aviation Division, the Civil Aviation Authority has been losing Rs200 million a month in revenue due to the limited flight operations, landing and other charges. Senior Joint Secretary Aviation Division Abul Sattar Khokhar had said, “Over 1000 flights used to pass through Pakistani air space daily. The figure has now reduced to 22percent due to worldwide suspension of international flights amid the Covid-19 restrictions.