Indian airlines to suffer higher costs, detours in ban from Pakistan airspace

NEW DELHI: Top Indian airlines Air India and IndiGo are bracing for higher fuel costs and longer journey times as they reroute international flights after Pakistan shut its airspace to them amid escalating tensions over an attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK).

India has blamed that there were Pakistani elements in Tuesday’s attack in which gunmen shot and killed 26 men in a meadow in the Pahalgam area of IIOJK. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

The worst impacted airport will be New Delhi, one of the world’s busiest, from where flights cross Pakistani airspace to fly to destinations in the West and the Middle East.

The nuclear-armed arch rivals have unleashed a raft of measures against each other in response, with India keeping a critical river water-sharing treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.

International airlines are not affected by the ban.

The impact of the airspace closure was visible starting late on Thursday, as Air India and IndiGo began to reroute flights to New York, Azerbaijan and Dubai - all of which typically use Pakistan airpsace, according to data from tracking website Flightradar24.

Pakistan warns India: Indus Waters Treaty suspension ‘an act of war’, vows full-spectrum response

The worst impacted airport will be New Delhi, one of the world’s busiest, from where flights cross Pakistani airspace to fly to destinations in the West and the Middle East.

Data from Cirium Ascend showed IndiGo, Air India and its budget unit Air India Express have roughly 1,200 flights combined from New Delhi scheduled for Europe, the Middle East and North America in April.

Air India’s flights to the Middle East from New Delhi will now be forced to fly roughly an hour extra, which means higher fuel costs and less cargo to accommodate the extra fuel, said an Indian aviation industry executive, who declined to be identified.

The airspace closure is the latest headache for the Indian airline industry, with expansion plans already complicated by jet delivery delays from Boeing and Airbus. Aircraft fuel and oil costs usually make up for about 30% of an airline’s operating costs, by far the biggest component.

IndiGo said on Friday “a few” of its flights will be impacted, while Air India said on X that some “flights to or from North America, UK, Europe, and Middle East will take an alternative extended route.”

“Air India is currently the most affected with the largest long- and ultra-long haul network out of Delhi,” said Ajay Awtaney, founder of aviation-focused website Live From ALounge.

The airspace closure is the latest headache for the Indian airline industry, with expansion plans already complicated by jet delivery delays from Boeing and Airbus. Aircraft fuel and oil costs usually make up for about 30% of an airline’s operating costs, by far the biggest component.

In 2019, India’s government said that the closure of Pakistan airspace for about five months during tensions between the neighbours at that time caused a loss of at least $64 million to Air India, IndiGo and other airlines.

One Indian airline pilot told Reuters the move will disrupt schedules, but also force airlines to redo their calculations of flying hours in relation to regulations, and adjust their crew and pilot rosters accordingly.

Another executive at an Indian airline said the carrier was scrambling to assess the impact with some employees working late into the night on Thursday.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to brief media.

IndiGo flight 6E1803 from New Delhi to Baku on Thursday took 5 hours and 43 minutes via a longer route that involved going southwest to India’s Gujarat state and then over the Arabian Sea, before swinging back north over Iran to Azerbaijan, FlightAware data showed.

The same flight, through Pakistan airspace, took 5 hours 5 minutes on Wednesday.

Pakistan has said the ban will be in place until May 23.

In 2019, India’s government said that the closure of Pakistan airspace for about five months during tensions between the neighbours at that time caused a loss of at least $64 million to Air India, IndiGo and other airlines.