Pak Air Curbs: Hyd, Southern Cities Not Affected

Air India is trying to find alternate routes to North America, thanks to the curbs by Pakistan following Pahalgam attack. It is weighing the option of flying to another city in the country and then flying to states in North America.

With this, the cost of avoiding Pakistan’s air space will come down according to sources. As of now, Air India is operating 71 flights to North America. Of them, 54 services are from Delhi.

The company has shared that it is looking for alternatives. It said they are looking at reducing tech-stops in other countries and introduce more non-stop flights to the US. All the flights from Delhi and northern cities are flying across the Arabian Ocean increasing the time and costs.

The news is that if Mumbai or Ahmedabad are taken as tech-stops, the flights going from New Delhi wouldn’t have to stop in European cities. Hence, Air India is considering this option.

As the Pakistan air space is closed, Air India will have to face Rs 5200 crore in losses. The other Indian airlines will have to spend Rs 306 crore additionally every month.

Incidentally, Pakistan has closed its airspace for Indian airline companies. But it is said that international airlines have voluntarily chosen to look for other air routes. By this, Pakistan will lose millions of dollars paid by them for using its air space. In 2019, when Pak closed its air space, it lost 10 crore dollars.

In the past two days, Lufthansa, British Airways, Swiss, Air France, ITA, LOT have decided to take alternate routes. This has added an extra hour to the journey. The cost of fuel is being borne by flyers.

The Pakistan too is facing problems with India closing its air space. The flight to Kaulalampur is taking 8.30 hours instead of 5.30 hours. It has to take longer routes to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka too.

However, the problem is more for northern cities in India. Flights taking off from Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Ahmedabad are not facing difficulties, say experts.