Earlier today, Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian aircraft and Indian airlines, arguably as a response to India’s response to the terrorism in Kashmir. This clearly has hit Air India the most, with airborne planes being diverted to skirt the Pakistani Airspace.
Air India Diversions due to Pakistani airspace closure.
Air India is clearly the most affected by the sudden airspace closure. Unlike last time, only Indian carriers are affected by this airspace closure, and Air India flies far and wide from India. As you can see from this screenshot from FR24, Air India is currently diverting a lot of flights.
So far, the following flights have been affected:
- US/Canada-origin flights are being diverted to Copenhagen. This includes San Francisco – Mumbai (AI180) and Toronto Pearson – Delhi (AI190). When they were asked to divert, these flights were flying over Russia.
- The affected Europe-to-India-bound flights are being diverted to Abu Dhabi. This includes London Heathrow to Delhi (AI162) and Paris CDG to Delhi (AI148)
Another flight, AI112, took off from London Heathrow after the closures were announced, so I assume they flew with more fuel and a new flight plan already.
It remains to be seen if these flights will continue operations after a quick tank up, or if the North American origination flights will end up staying in Europe because of the diversion. Air India has not issued a statement on the current situation so far. The story will be updated if they do.
Bottomline
At the moment, Air India looks to be the most affected due to the diversions it has to make for its long—and ultra-long-haul flights, which are having to change course because of the Pakistan Airspace closure. It remains to be seen if this is a short-lived pain for them or if these diversions will extend out into something for the passengers.
What do you make of the current situation?
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