Pakistan has barred Go First’s Srinagar- Sharjah flight from using its airspace, forcing it to take a longer route.

Home Minister Amit Shah launched Go First (previously known as Go Air)’s Srinagar-Sharjah flight on October 23. The flight was the first direct international connection from Srinagar.

Government and airline sources said that other west-bound flights using Pakistan’s airspace, including those flying to the US and UK, were unaffected.

“MEA and MHA officials are working to resolve the issue,” a person in the know said.

The Go First flight, G81595, was flying via Lahore until October 30, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24. The data for October 31 is not available on the website, but the next flight on November 2 was forced to flew via Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat to reach its destination. The operates this flight four times in a week.

The detour also means that the flight that was originally three- hour long, now takes additional 30 minutes to reach Sharjah.