Pakistan’s move on Thursday to close its airspace to Indian-registered aircraft and airlines will result in longer flights to Europe, North America and the Middle East from northern India and higher airfares on these routes, experts said.
Experts expected a 30 percent increase in airfares for flights to Middle East and around 40 percent increase in ticket prices for Europe and North America as a consequence of Pakistan’s move, reports Hindustan Times.
The restrictions were part of Islamabad’s response to India’s diplomatic curbs on Pakistan announced on Wednesday in retaliation to the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people on April 21.Pakistan civil aviation authority (PCAA) later issued a notice to pilots and other stakeholders alerting them of the closure.
A Delhi airport official said around 550 flights of various Indian and foreign airlines originating from India overfly Pakistan daily. At least 120 flights of Indian carriers from North India will now have to go south, over Mumbai airspace, then fly westbound over the Arabian sea and then enter Muscat airspace to continue on their regular route.
Avoiding Pakistani airspace would add up to 90 minutes to the duration of all flights departing from Northern Indian airports to Europe, Canada, and the US, a former Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said. According to airline officials, Air India, which operates non-stop flights from Delhi to Europe, the US, and Canada, will be most affected.
“Due to the announced restriction of Pakistan’s airspace for all Indian airlines, it is expected that some Air India flights to or from North America, the UK, Europe, and the Middle East will take an alternative extended route,” Air India said in a post on X.
IndiGo, which operates flights to the Middle East, said, “In light of the ongoing situation and the closure of Pakistan’s airspace, a few international flight schedules may be impacted. We’re working to minimize the inconvenience.”
The country’s newest airline, Akasa Air said the company had “proactively decided to reroute any flights expected to fly over Pakistan airspace as a precautionary measure. This has no significant impact to our operations and will not cause any inconvenience to our passengers..”
A SpiceJet spokesperson said that their flights to the UAE from North India will now operate via alternative routes. “”As a result, these flights will carry additional fuel to account for the longer flying time,” he added.
A former airline official pointed out that this situation will likely lead to an increase in airfares as the longer routes will force airlines to use more fuel, raising costs.
Airlines are expected to spend 15% more fuel for flights to the UK and Europe and around 10% more fuel for North American destinations by avoiding Pakistan’s airspace, said an airline official. “ “The airline industry is always hit hard in such situations. Let’s hope this situation de-escalates soon, as it will impact airlines’ earnings,” this official added.
“It is extremely poor timing for such escalations between India and Pakistan, especially with Pakistan closing its airspace for Indian-registered aircraft right at the start of the peak summer holiday season,” said Mark D Martin, CEO of Martin Consulting, an aviation consulting and safety firm based in Asia.
“By conservative estimates, we expect ticket prices to rise by at least 35% to destinations in the Middle East and by over 40% to destinations in Europe. In addition, there will be higher carbon emissions and fuel burn,” Martin added.
This is not the first time that a closure of Pakistan’s airspace has affected India. In 2019, Islamabad took a similar action after tensions between the two countries escalated following the Pulwama attack. Unlike this time, though, the airspace was off-limits to all airlines, not just to Indian carriers and India-registered aircraft.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
