Pakistan has granted Taiwanese carriers China Airlines Ltd and Eva Airways Corp permission to use its airspace for flights scheduled between October 28, 2026, and March 27, 2027, according to official documents.
The development follows reports that Islamabad had restricted Taiwanese airlines from using Pakistani airspace in line with Beijing’s One-China policy.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan’s aviation authorities followed the One-China policy, under which airspace access was being permitted to airlines from mainland China.
“We have permitted only Chinese airlines to fly over Pakistan,” Asif was quoted as saying.
Flight-tracking data indicated that the two Taiwanese carriers began changing their routes over the weekend and had stopped flying over Pakistan by the morning of October 25.
According to Flightradar24 data, at least 12 flights operated by China Airlines and Eva Airways between Asia and Europe had travelled through Russian airspace since Sunday.
Both airlines declined to comment on the reported changes, while Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration did not provide a response regarding the rerouting. However, the authority said it had never prohibited Taiwanese carriers from flying over Russia.
Taiwanese airlines had largely avoided Russian airspace since February 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in line with decisions made by numerous Asian, European and North American carriers. However, they had not been formally barred from using Russian airspace.
