Indian transport companies Air India and Indigo are facing increasing fuel costs and longer flying periods after Pakistan imposed a ban on the airspace on Indian Airlines amid escalating tensions linked to a militant attack in Kashmir. The closure, which does not apply to international airlines, forced Indian carriers to start redirecting many major international roads.
The repercussions stem from a deadly attack in the Paalgam area in the Indian armed Kashmir, where the militants killed 26 people in Marj on Tuesday. The Indian authorities claimed that Pakistani’s involvement in the attack, a charge that denied Islamabad.
In a series of measures that follow the dream after the accident, both countries have taken diplomatic and logistical steps against each other. Among them, India has suspended a vital treaty to share water in terms of rivers flowing from India to Pakistan.
As of Thursday night, both Air India and Indigo began to convert flights into destinations including New York, Dubai and Azerbaijan – which usually cross the Pakistani airspace. Aviation tracking data from Flightradar24 confirmed these changes.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport from Newra Gandhi – the most crowded in the world – is expected to be the most severely influential. Cirium Ascend data shows that Indigo, Air India and ARM AIR India Express work collectively on about 1,200 international trips from New Delhi to Europe, North America and the Middle East this month alone.
An aviation executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that flights in the Middle East in India from Delhi will now take about an hour due to transfers. This means increasing fuel consumption and reducing charging capacity – the main cost burden. Fuel and oil usually account for about 30 % of the operating expenses of the airline, making it the most important cost factor in flying.
Indigo confirmed that it will make slight adjustments in the schedule of about 50 international roads. The transportation company also announced the suspension of flights to Mati from April 27 to May 7, and to Tashqan from April 28 to May 7.
The situation increases the complexity of Indian airlines, which already suffers from pressure due to the delay in the delivery of aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. Airlines pilot told Reuters that the closure will require re -calculating the flight hours and the crew review and driving accordingly. Another airline executive said his team was working late Thursday night to assess the operational impact.
An example of a clear turmoil was on the Indigo 6E1803 trip, which traveled from New Delhi to Baku on Thursday. The journey lasted 5 hours and 43 minutes using a longer southern road over the state of Gujarat and the Arabian Sea, before roaming north of Iran. On Wednesday – before the ban – the same trip took only 5 hours and 5 minutes.
The restrictions of the airspace in Pakistan will remain valid until May 23. A similar step in 2019, when Pakistan closed the airspace for nearly five months, Indian airlines – Air India and indigo – cost $ 64 million, according to the Indian government.
