Pakistan airspace ban on Taiwan airlines: Khawaja Asif confirms, Dawn finds permits to March

Taiwan’s two big airlines, China Airlines and EVA Air, have not flown over Pakistan since the morning of Saturday, 25 October, according to Flightradar24 data cited by Bloomberg. On Wednesday Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg why: “The aviation division follows the One China policy — only mainland China is allowed.”

By Wednesday evening, though, the story had become less clear. Dawn, which first ran the Bloomberg report, updated its article to say that documents it had seen allow both airlines to operate through Pakistani airspace from 28 October to 27 March 2027.

What Khawaja Asif said

Speaking to Bloomberg, the defence minister said: “We have permitted only Chinese airlines to fly over Pakistan.” Bloomberg described it as a first-of-its-kind step by any country, and Pakistani outlets including Business Recorder and ProPakistani repeated that framing.

It would go further than China itself. Beijing lets Taiwanese airlines fly over the mainland, so a full Pakistani ban would be stricter than the rules of the country it is meant to support.

What the flights show

The tracking data is the hardest fact so far. Bloomberg counted at least a dozen China Airlines and EVA Air flights between Asia and Europe routed over Russia since Sunday instead of the usual path across Pakistan.

That itself is notable. Taiwanese carriers, like most Asian, European and North American airlines, had avoided Russian airspace since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022. Taiwan’s aviation regulator would not comment on the rerouting but pointed out it had never formally banned flights over Russia. Both airlines declined to comment.

So is there a ban or not?

Right now there are two versions. The minister’s on-record quote says only Chinese airlines are allowed. Dawn’s documents say the two Taiwanese carriers have a permit for the winter schedule, which in aviation runs until late March.

One way both could be partly true: a pause from 25 October that was then lifted or regularised with a new permit from 28 October. Neither the government nor the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority had said so publicly by Wednesday evening, and the Foreign Office had not commented either. We will update this story when there is an official statement.

Why it matters to Pakistan

Overflight fees are a quiet but steady income for the aviation authorities, and every airline that routes around Pakistan takes that money with it. Pakistan has kept its airspace closed to Indian airlines since the 2025 conflict, a ban recently extended to 24 November, so the question of who may cross Pakistani skies is already a sensitive one.

Pakistan has recognised Beijing as China’s only government since the early 1950s and has no official ties with Taiwan. Its foreign ministry regularly calls Taiwan an “inalienable part” of China.

What to watch next: whether China Airlines and EVA Air flights return to their old routes over Pakistan in the coming days. Flight tracking will answer that before any press release does.