India late Friday extended the ban on Pakistani airlines and aircraft from entering Indian airspace by a month till the early morning of September 24, according to a fresh notice to airmen (NOTAM) issued by India’s aviation authorities. The new notice comes two days after Pakistan’s NOTAM extended the closure of its airspace for Indian aircraft and airlines for the same period. With these extensions, the neighbours’ airspace closures for each other’s aircraft are set to enter their fifth month.
With a deterioration in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad after the Pahalgam terror attack in April, Pakistan initiated an airspace closure on April 24. Initially for one month, this ban prohibited Indian aircraft and airlines from overflying Pakistani airspace. India responded on April 30, closing its airspace to Pakistani aircraft and airlines. Since then, both nations have extended these closures by issuing NOTAMs on a monthly basis. Notably, while India and Pakistan have banned each other’s airlines and aircraft, their respective airspaces remain open for overflying by airlines and aircraft from other countries.
Pakistan had issued its latest NOTAM extending the airspace closure on Wednesday (August 20), a few days before the August 24 expiration of the earlier closure notice. After this extension by Pakistan, India was also likely to extend the closure of its airspace beyond August 24, when the earlier Indian NOTAM was also set to expire.
The new NOTAM issued by India is similar to the previous notices, except for the effective duration of airspace closure. India will keep its airspace closed to Pakistani airlines and aircraft, including military flights, till 5:29 India time on September 24. The latest NOTAM from Pakistan on airspace closure has the same expiration date and time.
With Pakistan’s airspace unavailable, approximately 800 weekly flights operated by Indian airlines have been affected. These flights, which typically travel from North India to destinations like West Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the UK, and eastern North America, are forced to take longer routes. This leads to several operational challenges like increased flight durations with journeys extended by anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours depending on the destination, in addition to higher fuel consumption, and increased complexity in crew and flight scheduling. Ultimately, these factors contribute to a rise in operational costs for the airlines.
In contrast, the impact of India’s airspace closure has been rather insignificant on Pakistan. This is largely because Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the country’s main carrier, has a limited international presence and is currently struggling, unlike India’s rapidly expanding aviation sector. According to data from aviation analytics company Cirium, only about six PIA flights per week—those traveling between Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Lahore or Islamabad—routinely flew over India.
For Indian airlines, the situation is quite different. All major Indian carriers operate international flights to countries west of India, and many of these previously utilised Pakistani airspace. Air India serves destinations across West Asia, Europe, the UK, and North America. IndiGo flies to West Asia, Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The airline was forced to suspend flights from Delhi to the Central Asian cities of Almaty and Tashkent because these routes are now beyond the operational range of its narrow-body aircraft fleet. Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet also operate international flights primarily to West Asia.
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According to data from Cirium, almost 400 weekly international departures from North Indian airports are currently impacted. These westward flights from Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, and Lucknow traditionally flew over Pakistan. Considering that all these flights also have return legs, the total number of affected flights reaches approximately 800 per week. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is expected to be the most severely affected, accounting for about 640 of these flights. Additionally, a few ultra-long-haul flights originating from other Indian cities, such as Mumbai, are also impacted if their routes historically crossed Pakistani airspace.
The financial implications for Indian airlines are substantial. When Pakistan previously closed its airspace for over four months in 2019, Indian carriers collectively incurred estimated losses of around Rs 700 crore. These costs were primarily due to increased fuel expenses and operational difficulties resulting from the mandatory longer routes. Air India was the most severely affected at that time, as it operated more west-bound international flights and was, and remains, the sole Indian airline with ultra-long-haul services to North America.
Air India, now part of the Tata group, had informed the government that the ongoing Pakistani airspace closure is projected to cost the airline approximately $600 million on an annualised basis. In recent years, other Indian airlines, particularly IndiGo, have also expanded their international networks, utilising their existing fleets of narrow-body jets to serve various destinations. Notably, IndiGo is the only Indian airline that provides flights to Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Turkey.
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