Pakistan’s decision to close its airspace to Indian airlines from Thursday evening is set to impact over 800 flights a week, leading to longer flight durations, increased fuel consumption, and complexities in crew and flight scheduling, all of which are expected to raise operational costs significantly.
The immediate impact is already evident, with flights from North India to West Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the UK, and North America’s eastern region being forced to switch to longer routes, adding anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours to the journey, depending on the destination.
Flight Suspensions and Route Changes
Indian airlines are rapidly adjusting schedules to factor in the ban. IndiGo, for instance, announced the suspension of its daily flights from Delhi to Almaty and Tashkent starting April 27 and April 28, respectively, until “at least” May 7. The airline cited that due to airspace restrictions and limited rerouting options, both Central Asian cities now lie outside the operational range of its current narrow-body fleet. IndiGo further stated that around 50 of its international routes could require schedule adjustments.
Other major airlines, including Air India, Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet, are similarly affected, particularly on their west-bound international routes which traditionally overflew Pakistani territory.
Magnitude of the Impact
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, almost 400 weekly westward international departures from Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, and Lucknow typically overflew Pakistan. Including the return journeys, the number of impacted flights rises to about 800 weekly. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport alone accounts for roughly 640 of these flights, making it the most affected airport.
Additionally, a few ultra-long-haul flights from cities like Mumbai are also impacted, as their optimal flight paths previously traversed Pakistani airspace.
Technical Halts on Ultra-Long-Haul Flights
Flight tracking data shows that several Air India ultra-long-haul flights to North America were forced to make technical halts at European airports such as Copenhagen and Vienna on Friday. These halts, for refueling or crew change, disrupted what are otherwise non-stop services. Affected flights included:
- Delhi–Washington (halt at Vienna)
- Delhi–New York (halt at Vienna)
- Delhi–Chicago (halt at Copenhagen)
- Delhi–Toronto (halt at Copenhagen)
- Delhi–Newark (halt at Copenhagen)
- Mumbai–New York (halt at Copenhagen)
- Vancouver–Delhi (halt at Copenhagen)
Air India had announced on Thursday that some of its international flights would be rerouted following Pakistan’s airspace closure but has not yet confirmed if technical halts will now become a regular feature, as they did during the 2019 airspace closure after the Balakot airstrikes.
