With the situation in Afghanistan deteriorating rapidly and thousands of civilians trying to flee on evacuation missions many countries are running from Kabul airport for their citizens and diplomats; one of the most chaotic instances of how destabilised things have become has been the airspace for the country.

Things have begun to unravel last evening as the Taliban entered Kabul and people wanted to flee the nation. Last night, people were spotted by the droves on the runway and in aircraft, trying to catch any plane out of the country, as per videos from Kabul, which have swarmed the Internet. Air India’s AI244 was one of the last commercial flights that managed to get out of the country before the civilian side of the airport was reportedly closed. An Emirates scheduled service operating to Kabul turned around and went back.

Afganistan’s airspace is precious, as it is the shortest link between Europe and Asia. In 2002, the Wall Street Journal estimated that the route saved 30 minutes per flight and shaved off USD 130 million in fuel costs. For Afghanistan itself, they mint the $$ by allowing flights to use their airspace. The same WSJ article linked estimated this to be worth USD 12 Million at the minimum.

As of August 15, 2021, British Airways had already stopped using the Kabul region to overfly, instead operating their Delhi – London Heathrow flight on a longer route, skirting both Kabul and Iranian airspace.

I assume United’s risk assessment was different, and it operated via the Kabul FIR on its way out from Delhi and Mumbai last evening.

Interesting to see that @united is using Afghan airspace at the moment #Kabul pic.twitter.com/jjVz5ItvdA

— Ajay Awtaney (@LiveFromALounge) August 15, 2021

Afghanistan has stopped offering ATC navigation services in the Kabul Flight Information Region (FIR) hereon, as per a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) issued on August 16, 2021. This does not mean that Kabul airspace is not available for use. However, it means that the ATC in Kabul won’t provide separation and other vital data and check-in on the flights while they fly through Kabul Airspace. The airspace has been transferred to the Military now.

As the new NOTAM arrived, Air India had an aircraft from Chicago to Delhi (AI126), just about entering the airspace over Afghanistan. It immediately rerouted, eventually heading into Sharjah for a tech stop refuel before heading into Delhi.

Similarly, an Air India flight from San Francisco to Delhi has also been diverted and arrived at Sharjah for a tech stop.

Consequent to the move, other airlines have also decided not to use the Kabul FIR for overflight. United’s ORD-DEL flight is operating via the airspace north of Afghanistan now.

Vistara has confirmed that its flights between London and Delhi won’t overfly Afghan Airspace. A Lufthansa spokesperson also similarly maintained,

Due to current developments, the airspace over Afghanistan is currently closed. The airlines of Lufthansa Group are accordingly using alternative flight routes. Safety is Lufthansa Group’s top priority at all times.

In the meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic’s DEL-LHR VS301 flew via the Arabic Gulf, taking a much longer route to fly back.

Bottomline

If you are flying out or flying into India from Europe or the US, brace for longer flight times in the coming days as airlines go back to their risk assessment and wait for the storm to settle, in the meantime flying the longer routes to ensure they don’t put their equipment, crew and passengers in harms way in any manner. If this becomes a long-term thing, however, expect higher prices on your flights as well in the future.

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