Israel-Iran war: AI cancels Sunday's Delhi to Frankfurt & Zurich flights due to airspace restrictions
NEW DELHI: Enroute airspace restrictions due to the Israel-Iran war forced Air India to cancel its Delhi-Frankfurt (AI 2029) and Delhi-Zurich (AI 151) flights on Sunday. This happened 'due to extended flight times caused by airspace closures in the Middle East amid rising tensions in the region.
These closures would have exceeded the mandatory flight duty time limitations for the pilots. Consequently, AI2030 (Frankfurt-Delhi) and AI152 (Zurich-Delhi) also stand cancelled,' AI said in a statement.
'Air India deeply regrets the inconvenience caused to passengers due to this unforeseen disruption, which is beyond the airline's control. Our ground teams are committed to providing comprehensive assistance to affected passengers, including alternative flight options and full refunds, as per their preferences.
At Air India, the safety of our passengers and crew remains our top priority,' it added.
Air India and Air India Express together operate more than 1,100 flights a day, flying over 1.5 lakh passengers. AI has undertaken enhanced pre-flight safety checks and temporary reduction (15%) of services 'to uphold its commitment to safe operations. This will improve stability and will minimise last-minute inconvenience to passengers.'
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'However, despite all efforts, due to extraneous factors such as airspace closures in the Middle East, nighttime curfew at several airports in Europe and East Asia, air traffic congestion, unforeseen operational issues, certain flights get delayed or cancelled. We notify passengers ahead of time to reduce inconvenience in case of planned delays or cancellations, but sometimes, certain challenges lead to last-minute disruptions,' AI added.
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Indian Express
28 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Iranian parliament recommends Strait of Hormuz closure: What may be in store for energy markets, India's oil imports
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Also, any major disruption in West Asian oil and gas exports could lead to a surge in oil and gas prices in the international market, which would also hurt India, which is counted among the world's largest oil and gas importers with high import dependency levels. To be sure, the conflict has so far not really disrupted physical oil and gas flows from the region, although shipping and insurance rates have gone up notably due to higher geopolitical risk premium,according to industry sources. There are also reports that a few shipping lines are reassessing routes in the region. This could further add to the transportation cost to and from the region. As for oil prices, benchmark Brent crude was at $77 per barrel on Friday, its highest level in nearly five months. It is likely that oil prices will surge when the markets open Monday over the possibility of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. At May-end, Brent was languishing around $63 per barrel. But oil prices rose sharply with Israel and Iran entering into a military conflict over the past couple of weeks. However, despite some energy infrastructure being hit in the conflict over the past few days, the most critical oil and gas supply infrastructure in the region is reported to be safe and export routes open and functional. Energy industry insiders, trade sources, and experts appear largely unanimous in the view that the trajectory oil and gas supplies and prices take hereon amid this conflict would largely depend on whether the critical Strait of Hormuz will indeed be closed by Iran, and whether oil and gas export infrastructure in the region would remain largely unharmed. Strait of Hormuz: World's most critical energy trade choke point Strait of Hormuz is a critical narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, and connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) calls it the 'world's most important oil transit chokepoint', with around one-fifth of global liquid petroleum fuel consumption and global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade transiting the strait. Much of India's oil from key West Asian suppliers like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE reaches Indian ports via the Strait of Hormuz. A bulk of India's LNG imports, which come predominantly from Qatar, also come through this vital choke point. India is the world's third-largest consumer of crude oil and depends on imports to meet over 85 per cent of its requirement. The country is also among the top importers of LNG, depending on imports to meet around half of its natural gas demand. India's largest source of crude oil is Russia, followed by West Asian suppliers Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. India also buys oil from other countries in the region like Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. Indian refiners do not purchase Iranian crude as Iran's energy sector is under US sanctions. According to tanker data analysed by The Indian Express, nearly 47 per cent of crude oil imported by Indian refiners in May was likely to have been transported via the Strait of Hormuz. The importance of the chokepoint for India's energy supply and security cannot be understated. To be sure, Tehran has over the years made such threats at various points, but has never actually closed the strait even when it fought its worst wars. That is also because given the importance of the channel for global energy trade, any such attempt could draw a strong response from regional powers and even the US. Also, given that Iran itself depends on the Strait of Hormuz for its trade, particularly oil exports to China, any blockade could impact Tehran considerably, experts pointed out. 'First and foremost, such a blockade would disproportionately harm China, which sources 47% of its seaborne crude from the Middle East Gulf, including Iranian volumes. Iran's ability to maintain its sole major oil customer would be directly jeopardised. Additionally, Tehran has made deliberate efforts over the past two years to rebuild ties with key regional actors, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, both of which rely heavily on the Strait for exports and have publicly condemned Israel's actions. Sabotaging their flows would risk unraveling those diplomatic gains,' commodity market analytics firm Kpler said in a note on June 19. '…while the rhetoric may generate headlines, the fundamentals argue strongly against action,' the Kpler note said. 'It's really hard to tell, but I would say it's very unlikely for that (blockade of the Strait of Hormuz) to happen. And we've seen in the past, whenever there were indications or even threats that Iran might be doing this, you would hear statements from the US Fifth Fleet that they would immediately intervene and they would unblock the strait. Of course, it's something that we need to flag as a risk,' Kpler's head of Middle East energy & OPEC+ insights had said in a webinar last week. Hormuz closure will hurt energy import-dependent India Given the fact that the Iranian parliament has recommended the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the possibility cannot be dismissed. In fact, given that the regime in Tehran is perhaps fighting for survival, Iran might just attempt something that it has only threatened in the past. If the critical water channel indeed is closed by Iran, Bakr said oil prices, which have been rather subdued for a few months now, could jump to over $120 per barrel, or even touch $150. 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'If Iranian crude exports are disrupted, Chinese refiners, the sole buyers of Iranian barrels—would need to seek alternative grades from other Middle Eastern countries and Russian crudes. This could also boost freight rates and tanker insurance premiums… and hurt refinery margins, particularly in Asia,' Richard Joswick, head of near-term oil analysis at S&P Global Commodity Insights, said in a note recently. While oil producers' cartel OPEC has significant spare production capacity that they can use in case of a major outage of Iranian oil exports, it is important to note that much of that is with other West Asian oil producers, which are located in the broader Israel-Iran conflict zone. According to industry watchers, this spare capacity will only be helpful if other oil producers in the region are able to export to the rest of the world effectively. And that would have two key prerequisites—their own oil production and export infrastructure remains unharmed and the Strait of Hormuz remains open and safe for energy trade. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More
India.com
an hour ago
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Not US, NATO, Israel, G7, BRICS, or EU; Iran is most scared of THIS group due to..., the group consists...
(File) Israel-Iran war: Iran has shown unprecedented resilience despite being pummeled by US-backed Israel, and now the US itself, in the ongoing Israel-Iran war. Tehran has proven it does not fear any country or grouping, including the United States, Israel, G7, European Union, or NATO. However, there is one important grouping that impacts Iran's decisions, at least to some extent, the OPEC+, which includes Iran and 22 other crude oil-producing nations, most of them located in the Middle East. According to estimates, OPEC+ produces more than half of the world's total oil crude oil, with Iran being one of the largest oil-producing countries in the group. What is OPEC+ and how it influences Iran? Unlike the EU, NATO, BRICS, or G7, OPEC+ is not political, diplomatic or military alliance, but an economic grouping of major oil-producing nations, especially the oil-rich Gulf states of the Middle East. OPEC+ produces more than half of the world's crude oil, and essentially controls global oil prices, making it a powerful entity that can put pressure on nations by weaponizing oil prices. Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are the arguably the most influential countries in the OPEC+. Other oil-producing nations which are part of the group include Iraq, Kuwait, Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Malaysia, South Sudan, Sudan and Oman. All these nations have vast reserves of oil and natural gas worth billions, if not trillions of dollars, and oil-production is a major contributor to their economies. How much oil is produced by Iran? Iran's daily oil production was an estimated 2.5 million barrels in March 2023, but this has increased to 3.3 million barrels, as per a recent Reuters report. More importantly, Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, through which more than half of the global supply of oil is shipped. Iran can trigger a global crisis if it decides to blockade this strategic shipping lane. Can the OPEC+ stop the Israel-Iran war? While Iran is not 'scared' of any country or alliance, the OPEC+ countries, most of whom have assured their tacit support to Tehran in the Israel-Iran war, hold some influence on the decisions made by the Islamic Republic. Experts believe Iran would not brush aside any mediation efforts or advice, and can play a key role in resolving the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. Among non-OPEC countries, Iran also has the support of Russia, China, and Pakistan in the current conflict. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin told OPEC+ that the Israel-Iran is the major reason behind rising crude oil prices, while Iraq's Deputy PM warned that crude oil price would soon breach $200 per barrel if the war continues. The OPEC+ is not a diplomatic or political grouping, but has some power to act as a mediator to help de-escalate the current tensions between Iran and Israel. Putin recently talked about mediating between the two enemy nations, while several other countries have also made similar statements.
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an hour ago
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Air India To Scale Back Narrow-Body Operations Across 19 Routes Until Mid-July
New Delhi: Air India has announced a considerable but temporary five per cent reduction in its narrow-body flight operations across select domestic and short-haul international routes, citing the need to bolster operational stability. Until 15 July, the airline is temporarily suspending services on three routes and reducing frequency on 19 routes. The airline is suspending services between Bengaluru-Singapore, Pune-Singapore and Mumbai-Bagdogra - each route losing all seven weekly rotations. Key domestic arteries like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune, and Mumbai's links to Goa, Hyderabad and other metros have also seen scaled-back schedules with reduced frequency, thereby losing between five and twelve weekly flights in each sector. This announcement comes after Air India had slashed 15 per cent of its long-haul wide-body operations across international routes following the June 12 AI 171 Dreamliner crash at Ahmedabad. Besides regulatory pressure, the airline is grappling with Middle Eastern airspace closures and night-time curfews in European and East Asian sectors. These factors have already caused 83 wide-body flight cancellations in recent days. According to the airline, the reductions are aimed at strengthening Air India's network-wide operational stability and minimising last-minute inconvenience to passengers. As the airline recalibrates its network and pursues "maximum caution", Air India seeks to assure passengers that full schedules will resume as soon as inspections clear and airspace conditions stabilise.
