Deviation From Iranian Airspace Could Result in Additional Flight Time for Indian Airlines

As tensions continues to rise in the Iranian airspace, airlines across the world are taking caution by avoiding the airspace. This case becomes more significant for airlines in India because of majority of flights to Europe and North America requires the usage of airspace above Iran. Airlines like Air India, IndiGo and Vistara are avoiding Iranian airspace for some routes and utilizing it on the others.

Partial Avoidance of Iranian Airspace

Air India and Vistara operates flights from Delhi to Mumbai to Europe. Today, the airline avoided the Iranian airspace while flying between Delhi and Europe. However, when flying between Mumbai and Europe, the airlines continued to use the airspace. For Delhi flights, they took a diversion and flew above Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Other than Iran airspace, Indian airlines do not overfly the Afghan airspace as well since the takeover by Taliban. Air India flights from Kochi and Ahmedabad to Gatwick also skipped the Iranian airspace.

An Air India spokesperson took to media and shared the airline’s response towards the issue. The airline is monitoring the situation in the Middle East. Presently, it is utilizing alternate flight paths for its long haul flights. It keeps the safety of crew and passengers at top priority.

IndiGo also operates flights from India to West Asia. It operates daily flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Istanbul. However, the aircraft used by IndiGo is leased by Turkish Airlines and it is responsible for the maintenance and insurance of the airframe.

Similar to Air India & Vistara, IndiGo has also avoided the airspace above Iran when flying between Delhi and Istanbul. But it overflew, when flying between Mumbai and Istanbul. Most of the flights which took a route deviation reached late to their destination.

It is unsure of what path will Air India use for flights between India and North America. Since the Boeing 777s formerly belonging to Delta Airlines cannot fly above Hindu Kush range, the airline will have to adjust its schedules accordingly. Air India flight from Mumbai to Newark utilizes the Iranian airspace.

Iranian Airspace Woes Adding to the Flight Time

When an aircraft gets ready to fly, the pilots are provided a flight path, according to which they have to fly. But when this flight path is deviated, this results in additional flight time. More time in the air means more fuel burn and more carbon emissions.

For example, lets take a look at the routing of Vistara’s Mumbai to Frankfurt service. On a normal day, the airline departs from Mumbai, through Arabian Sea, it flies above Pakistan, Iran, Turjey, Black Sea and enters into European skies. This flight takes around hours and 30 minutes.

Now, lets have a look at today’s routing. The aircraft departed from Mumbai and started its journey towards Northern India. As Indian airlines are not overflying Afghan airspace, the aircraft flew from Mumbai to Punjab and then, exited the Indian airspace. After that, it flew over Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Black Sea, Turkey and then, entered the European airspace. Already, the flight time has exceeded 8 hours 30 minutes and the aircraft is still in the air.

This detailed example gives a proper view of the delay faced by airlines. Air Carriers based in United Kingdom are facing the same when they fly from London to India. They are not able to overfly the Russian airspace and hence, have to fly for an additional 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Air India which has access to Russian airspace offers the shortest flight between North India and UK.

Say No to Travel to Iran and Israel

Government of India or say, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has already issued an advisory asking its citizens not to travel to Iran and Israel due to escalating tensions in the region. It has requested all NRIs living in both these countries to register themselves with Indian embassies and remain in close touch with them.

Air India is the only airline currently to offer direct services between India and Israel. It restarted its services on March 3. The airline has not announced any cancellations and has operated its flight normally today. No Indian airlines flies to and from Iran.

Vistara in a statement said that the airline is making changes to the original flight paths, which can increase flight time. There are some routes, which are kept available to ensure that operations continue during war or tensions. These routes are called contingency routes. The airline is looking to make use of these routes. Vistara is closely monitoring the situation and will made further changes based on the condition.

Not just India, but carriers across the world are exercising caution. Qantas, Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have also started avoiding the Iranian airspace for flights to and from Asia. Here is hoping that tensions calm down as quickly as possible.

According to you, who will be the most impacted by these diversions? Discuss in the comments section.