Pakistan reopens airspace to Taiwan's airlines until March 2027

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority has cleared Taiwan's two international carriers, China Airlines Limited and EVA Airways Corporation, to use Pakistani airspace from 28 October until 27 March 2027, Dawn reported, reversing a restriction applied days earlier under the One China policy.

The closure was confirmed by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who told Bloomberg that aviation authorities were following the One China policy, under which only airlines belonging to China, meaning mainland China, may transit Pakistani airspace, and Taiwanese carriers were not included. UrduPoint's headline carried that earlier restriction, citing Bloomberg as describing it as the first step of its kind taken by any country.

According to flight tracking data, Taiwan's airlines had already begun rerouting away from Pakistani airspace from Sunday, before the new permission was issued. Dawn reported that both carriers declined to comment on the matter, and that Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration did not set out a position on the route changes either.

Beijing considers Taiwan a province of China, while Taipei maintains its own autonomy. Pakistan ended formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1951 and has since backed the One China policy, a position that has underpinned steadily closer ties with Beijing, including billions of dollars of Chinese investment in Pakistan under the Belt and Road Initiative and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. China is also Pakistan's largest supplier of defence equipment, and the two countries have launched a China-Pakistan Information Corridor to widen cooperation.

The fresh clearance is expected to ease distance and flying-time pressure on the Taiwanese carriers' scheduled international routes.

The two reports differ in emphasis rather than in substance: Aaj News reported the lifting of the restriction and the dates covered by the CAA approval, while UrduPoint's report carried the restriction itself. Neither outlet published a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority, and no notification text was released with the reports.