Airlines in India are likely to face additional weekly expenses of ₹77 crore for international flights operated from north Indian cities due to the closure of airspace by Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
The airspace curbs are likely to result in increased fuel consumption and longer flight durations. A PTI analysis showed that the additional monthly operational costs could be about ₹307 crore.
Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan due to the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan on Thursday said it will bar Indian airlines from using its airspace.
IndiGo said on April 25 that around 50 international routes operated by it will require longer sectors and hence may be subject to some slight schedule adjustments.
“With the same restrictions and limited rerouting options, unfortunately, Almaty and Tashkent are outside the operational range of IndiGo’s current fleet,” it had said in a statement.
Flights to Almaty stand cancelled from April 27 until at least May 7 and to Tashkent from April 28 until May 7.
Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air have not made announcements about flight cancellations due to the airspace curbs.
Air India operates widebody A350s, B777s, and B787s, while IndiGo operates B787 and B777s taken on lease. The remaining carriers — Air India Express, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air — operate narrow-body planes such as A320s, A321s, and B737s.
Alternative paths take additional time and fuel
Alternative flight path due to the closure of Pakistan airspace for Indian airlines is resulting in additional flying time of up to 1.5 hours for international flights from Delhi and northern Indian cities.
The additional time for a 16-hour flight to North America will be around 1.5 hours, an official told PTI.
According to the official, the cost for those 1.5 additional hours will be around ₹29 lakhs. The figure included landing and parking charges on account of a technical halt at an airport en route.
Similarly, the additional flight time for a 9-hour flight to Europe will be about 1.5 hours. That would cost around ₹22.5 lakh extra to the airline operating the flight.
The flights to the Middle East will take an additional time of around 45 minutes, and the resultant cost will be about ₹5 lakh.
Indian carriers are scheduled to operate more than 6,000 flights one way to various international destinations in April, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium showed.
Over 800 weekly flights are operated by Indian airlines to and from northern Indian cities to overseas destinations, including North America, the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, as per an analysis of the Cirium data.
There are little over 3,100 flights both ways in a month, and every week, the count comes to nearly 800 flights.
Out of the total monthly flights, nearly 1,900 are operated with narrow-body planes and some wide-body aircraft to the Middle East. Considering the additional cost of ₹5 lakh per flight for the extra 45 minutes, the overall expenses will be about ₹90 crore.
With respect to Europe and North America, the total two-way flights is nearly 1,200. Based on additional flying time of 1.5 hours costing around ₹29 lakh for North America services and ₹22 lakh for Europe flights, the total amount will be about ₹306 crore per month.
As per the analysis, the total additional monthly expenses will be about ₹307 crore and ₹77 crore every week. These figures are based on rough estimates.
Apart from higher fuel consumption, longer flying hours also pose payload and aircraft availability issues, as well as crew flying duty time limitation challenges for airlines.