Indian airlines are facing a serious aviation crisis as the war in Iran compounds existing problems caused by a longstanding Pakistan airspace ban forcing carriers into costly detours and major flight cancellations. According to aviation data India’s two biggest international carriers Air India and IndiGo haven’t operated roughly 64 percent of their scheduled 1,230 flights to key destinations in the Middle East Europe and North America over the past ten days as regional airspace restrictions linked to the Iran conflict have forced widespread rerouting and rescheduling.
The pain is particularly acute because Indian airlines already cannot fly over Pakistan a ban Islamabad imposed last year amid political tensions removing what would normally be the most direct northern corridor for flights between India and Europe or the U.S. That means jets must now take longer costlier routes via Africa or southward adding hours of flight time higher fuel burn and extra operational costs.
IndiGo for example is struggling with its fleet of long‑range Boeing aircraft leased from Norway which fall under European safety advisories that advise avoiding multiple Middle Eastern airspaces further squeezing routing options. On one recent flight from Delhi to Manchester confusion over airspace permissions forced the aircraft to return to India mid‑flight after 13 hours in the air aviation experts say.
Air India has tried to adapt by adding stopovers such as Rome but journey times that once took about 17 hours can now stretch to nearly 22 giving competitive advantage to foreign carriers that still use shorter corridors.
Industry analysts warn this “double whammy” is hitting profitability hard. Pakistani airspace restrictions alone are projected to cost Air India around $600 million annually and the added disruptions and rising fuel costs linked to the Iran conflict are expected to increase losses even further.
