Mid-air escape: Air India London-Delhi flight entered Iran airspace as Israel struck with missiles; rerouted over Iraq
NEW DELHI: An Air India flight from London to New Delhi had just entered Iranian airspace when Israel launched a wave of missile strikes on Iran's military and nuclear sites.
The flight was rerouted over Iraq before arriving in India one hour late, according to an AFP report.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
The close call was one of several disruptions on Friday as Air India diverted or turned back at least 16 international flights mid-air due to the sudden escalation and subsequent closure of Iranian airspace. Among those affected were services between India and cities like London, Toronto, and New York.
Aircraft tracking site Flight Aware showed that two other Air India flights — from Delhi to Vienna and Mumbai to London — were nearing Iranian airspace and turned back to their origin airports shortly after the strikes began.
In a statement, Air India said: 'Due to the emerging situation in Iran, the subsequent closure of its airspace and in view of the safety of our passengers, the following Air India flights are either being diverted or returning to their origin. We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers due to this unforeseen disruption and are making every effort to minimise it.'
The airline is offering full refunds or complimentary rescheduling to affected passengers and is arranging accommodation where necessary.
The Indian Embassy in Iran also issued an advisory urging Indian nationals and people of Indian origin to stay alert and avoid non-essential travel, as tensions surged following Israel's precision strikes targeting Iranian defence infrastructure.
Iran, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria temporarily shut down their airspace, leading to widespread cancellations and rerouting of global flights to and from the Middle East. Global airlines suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran as air traffic over the region thinned out overnight.
Israel said the strikes were a direct response to the growing threat from Iran's missile and nuclear capabilities. Iran retaliated by launching a wave of drones toward Israeli territory.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
9 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Employee gets appraisal after one year but gets shock of his life when he looks at his salary
A deeply disillusioned professional took to Reddit's Indian Workplace community to vent about a distressing experience that left them emotionally shattered and financially frustrated. Their warning was simple yet powerful—avoid working for family-owned businesses, particularly the kind often called " Lala companies ," where decisions are often arbitrary and heavily skewed in favor of the individual had been employed at such a firm for over a year, patiently enduring difficult circumstances with the hope that annual appraisal season might bring some reward. When the time finally arrived, the increase they received was a meager Rs 1,200. Although clearly underwhelming, they tried to find solace in the idea that any increment, however small, was still progress. They convinced themselves to stay optimistic, choosing to focus on the fact that at least their salary was technically on the what followed turned that small relief into utter disappointment. It came to light that the company had failed to deduct Provident Fund (PF) contributions for years. Instead of acknowledging their error or offering a fair solution, management decided to retroactively deduct Rs 1,800 from the employee's next paycheck to "rectify" the mistake. With the increment at Rs 1,200 and the deduction being ₹1,800, the net impact on the new salary was a decrease of Rs 600. What was supposed to be an appraisal turned into a financial setback , making the situation feel both absurd and deeply post quickly gained traction on Reddit, resonating with many others who had experienced similar forms of exploitation. Numerous users chimed in with their own horror stories and harsh critiques of such workplaces. One commenter was shocked by the insultingly low increment and urged the original poster to start searching for a new job immediately, calling such firms abusive and user shared their ordeal of being offered a job with absolutely no salary hike and even having ₹1,000 held back from each monthly payment, to be paid out only after a year. Yet another added that their current position in a mid-sized pharmaceutical company—also run in a similar family-dominated manner—was plagued by incompetent leadership. Their manager, described as toxic and intellectually lacking, maintained job security simply because of a long-standing relationship with the owner, rather than actual merit.
Hindustan Times
14 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
'Prince William's billionaire friend': How US, UK media reported Karisma Kapoor's ex-husband Sanjay Kapur's death
To Bollywood audiences, Sunjay Kapur, who died on Thursday, may have been Karisma Kapoor's ex-husband, but to the wider international community, he was much more - an industrialist, a polo player, and a friend of royalty. The international media also reported Sunjay's death, but their focus was largely on his businesses and links to royalty, rather than the Bollywood connection. (Also read: Sunjay Kapur's funeral to be held in Delhi, but legal hurdle in getting body back to India) Sunjay Kapur died after suffering a heart attack while he was in the middle of a polo match in London on Thursday. The 53-year-old was a regular in the polo circles of the UK, which is how he came to be associated with Prince William. The Prince of Wales has been described as a friend of the late businessman. The New York Post's headline about Sunjay's death read: "Prince William's billionaire pal Sunjay Kapur dead after swallowing bee during polo match". People Magazine also focused on Sunjay's friendship with William and the bizarre reported nature of his death. "Prince William's friend dies after swallowing a bee at Windsor polo match," read their headline. The New York Times, however, highlighted his marriage to Karisma. Their headline read: "Sunjay Kapur, businessman and ex-husband of Bollywood star, dies at 53." Most British publications also mentioned Prince William in their reportage of the billionaire businessman's death. "Billionaire friend of Prince William dies from heart attack after 'swallowing a bee'," wrote the Daily Mail. Similarly, the Telegraph reported, "Billionaire friend of Prince of Wales dies after 'swallowing a bee'." Sunjay Kapur was the chairman of auto components maker Sona Comstar. After taking over as managing director of the company after his father's death in 2015, Sunjay spearheaded its expansion into China, Mexico, Serbia and the U.S. As per Bloomberg, Sona Comstar has a market cap of ₹31000 crore (nearly $4 billion). According to Forbes, Sunjay Kapur had a net worth of $1.2 billion ( ₹10300 crore) at the time of his death. The London-based Indian business tycoon had been married to Karisma Kapoor from 2003-16. The two have two children. Sunjay was previously married to fashion designer and stylist and Nandita Mahtani from 1996-2000. Since 2017, he had been married to model-turned-actor Priya Sachdev, with whom he had a son.
India Today
15 minutes ago
- India Today
Aviation Minister chairs high-level meet on Air India crash, safety protocols
Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu is chairing a high-level meeting Saturday on the investigation into the Air India Flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad and to assess broader air safety protocols, sources is the first meeting at the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Delhi following the disaster, which claimed 265 lives. Senior officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and MoCA are said to be present for the to sources, Naidu will review the progress of the probe into the plane crash, with discussions focusing on evidence recovered so far and the next steps in the investigation. Inputs and reports from various aviation and emergency response agencies will reportedly be sought. All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner perished when the plane went down moments after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, ploughing into a hostel building on the campus of BJ Medical College. The crash also claimed the lives of 24 people on the ground, including five medical Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said on Friday that the digital flight data recorder (DFDR), commonly referred to as the black box, was recovered from the rooftop of the hostel. The data will be pivotal in reconstructing the final moments of the flight and identifying the root cause of the Minister Narendra Modi visited the accident site and met with injured survivors at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on experts continue to speculate over the cause of the crash—from dual engine failure, flap malfunction, or bird strikes—aviation authorities have ramped up safety DGCA has ordered enhanced inspections of Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, which includes 26 B787-8 and seven B787-9 aircraft powered by GEnx InMust Watch
