Indian airlines likely to face Rs 77 cr additional weekly cost due to Pakistan's airspace closure

Amid the ongoing tussle between India and Pakistan , a report suggests that Indian airlines are likely to face an additional weekly expense of Rs 77 crore for international flights operated from north Indian cities. The airliners are burdened after Pakistan closed its airspace for Indian aircraft, causing a major hit to the Indian aviation sector.

According to PTI, an analysis of the number of overseas flights and back-of-the-envelope calculations based on increased flight time, and approximate expenses, reflected that the airlines are incurring additional monthly operational costs could be over Rs 306 crore. Pakistan decided to close its airspace in response to the security measures taken by India following the devastating Pahalgam attack.

The PTI report stated that the alternative flight path is leading to an increase of 1.5 hours in travel time from North Indian cities to the US and Europe. This increase will also raise the cost of flying the aircraft by Rs 29 lakhs in the US. This includes landing and parking charges on account of a technical halt at an airport en route. Similar additional charges are acquired by planes flying to Europe and the Middle East.

As per the analysis, the airlines are incurring a total additional monthly expense of around Rs 307 crore and Rs 77 crore on a weekly basis. The report maintained that these figures are based on rough estimates.

India looks for alternatives

In light of this, top executives of air navigation authorities and airlines in India are huddling up to find a solution. According to The Economic Times, the officials are contemplating plans to decongest the western airspace and find a new flight path as an alternative.

A source close to the matter told the Indian news outlet that officials from the defence, external affairs and civil aviation ministries met to discuss alternatives last week. The authorities asked airliners to examine the feasibility of the route, where an aircraft travelling from Delhi can head to the North of Leh and then fly over the Hind Kush, entering Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, en route to Europe or North America.

This way, India would be able to bypass Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 2021, Air India started flying on a route titled Papa 500 on aeronautical charts. However, that required the aircraft to fly over Pakistani airspace for a short time. In the proposed idea, the aircraft needs to fly further north and even enter Chinese airspace.

“Airlines have been asked to check the feasibility of the route, following which the government can reach out to China for permission. This could offer direct access to Europe and the USA without requiring a halt,” a government official, aware of the plan, told The Economic Times.

Since the closure of the Pakistani airspace, flights between north India, Europe and North America are flying south, close to Ahmedabad. From there, it heads over the Arabian Sea and goes to Muscat, where it is en route to the destination.

Indigo noted that the flight to Central Asia had been stopped, and Air India had to take one stop for its flights to the US. During the meeting, airline officials argued that if they went ahead with the proposed plan, it would require additional training for the crew to operate at such a high altitude, and the aircraft should also have more than 22 minutes of oxygen on board due to the high terrain.

With inputs from agencies.