Pakistan U-Turn on Taiwan Flights: China Airlines and EVA Cleared Until March 2027

Pakistan has reversed course on Taiwanese airlines within days, granting China Airlines and EVA Airways permission to use its airspace from October 28, 2026, until March 27, 2027, according to aviation documents reviewed by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. The reversal came after Pakistan's defence minister, Khawaja Asif, told Bloomberg News that Islamabad's aviation policy followed the One China policy and allowed only mainland Chinese airlines to fly over the country. No public explanation for the change has been given so far.
Bloomberg had reported that Taiwan's two major carriers stopped flying over Pakistan from the morning of October 25, based on flight-tracking data, with at least a dozen flights between Asia and Europe rerouted over Russia, according to Flightradar24 data cited in the report. The detours threatened longer journey times and higher fuel costs. Taiwanese carriers had largely avoided Russian airspace since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, although they were not formally barred from using it.
The episode was striking because mainland China itself permits Taiwanese airlines to use its airspace, making Pakistan's stated position more restrictive than Beijing's own practice. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory, while Taiwan governs itself and rejects Beijing's sovereignty claim. Pakistan, which severed official relations with Taiwan in 1951 and calls China an all-weather strategic partner, has long backed the One China policy. For now, the new authorisation lets the two Taiwanese carriers fly over Pakistan again, despite the defence minister's earlier statement.
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