New Delhi/Montreal, Oct.29 (HS): Planes carrying national leaders are considered as “state aircraft” and are not subject to its provisions, the International Civil Aviation Organisation or ICAO stated in response to India’s ire against Pakistan for its refusal to let the Prime Minister’s flight go through its airspace to Saudi Arabia.
“The Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), which ICAO helps governments to cooperate under, only applies to the operations of civilian aircraft and not to state or military aircraft,” the ICAO spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
“Flights carrying national leaders are considered state aircraft, and are therefore not subject to ICAO provisions,” the spokesperson added. The ICAO is a specialised UN agency and its main job is to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).
India had put up Pakistan’s denial of use of its airspace to the Prime Minister’s flight to the ICAO, government sources said on Monday.
Actually, India was seeking overflight clearance from Pakistan for the Prime Minister’s aircraft – Air India One – to go to Saudi Arabia on Monday, but Islamabad refused to do so.
The sources informed that India regrets Pakistan’s decision to yet again deny overflight clearance for the VVIP special flight, granted routinely by any normal country. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said to Radio Pakistan that Pakistan has decided to not allow Prime Minister Modi to use Pakistan’s airspace.
In September also, Pak had denied overflight clearance to the Prime Minister’s aircraft during his visit to the US. That time also India has taken up the issue of denial of overflight clearance with the relevant international civil aviation body, sources further added.
