Air France, Lufthansa, others avoid Pakistan airspace amid India tensions
FILE PHOTO: Logo of Lufthansa is seen in Munich, Germany July 27, 2022. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle/File Photo
NEW DELHI - Air France and Germany's Lufthansa were among global carriers avoiding Pakistani airspace, airlines said and flight-tracking websites showed on Monday, as tension between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan remained high after a deadly attack in Kashmir last month.
India took measures such as closing its airspace to Pakistan airlines, while Pakistan barred those owned or operated by its neighbour, suspended trade and halted special visas for Indians, although it let international airlines use its airspace.
Lufthansa Group's airlines are "avoiding Pakistani airspace until further notice" it said in a statement to Reuters, although that will result in longer flight times on some routes to Asia.
Lufthansa Flight LH760 from Frankfurt to New Delhi had to fly for nearly an hour longer than usual on Sunday because it took a longer route, data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed.
Flight-tracking data showed some flights of British Airways, Swiss International Air Lines and Emirates travelling over the Arabian Sea and then turning north towards Delhi in order to avoid Pakistani airspace.
British Airways and Emirates did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Air France said in a statement: "The airline has decided to suspend overflight of Pakistan until further notice," citing the "recent evolution of tensions" between India and Pakistan.
The carrier said it was altering its flight schedule and flight plans with destinations such as Delhi, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh, entailing longer flight times.
Swiss, owned by Lufthansa Group, said the airline will rebook passengers who miss connecting flights free of charge.
Airlines have also been reacting to developments in the Middle East, with European and U.S. carriers cancelling flights for several days after a missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels on Sunday landed near Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.
Besides the longer distances and higher fuel costs for airlines, Pakistan may see a drop in its earnings from overflight fees, which can run into hundreds of dollars a flight depending on aircraft weight and distance covered. Pakistan's reserves with the central bank stand at $10.2 billion, barely enough to cover two months' worth of imports.
"It could have a significant impact on some foreign airlines who rely heavily on Pakistan airspace as well as for Pakistan given the loss of overflight revenues," independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said.
Pakistan's civil aviation authority declined to comment. REUTERS
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The Malaysian Palm Oil Board , in collaboration with other regulatory bodies, is actively monitoring the industry to prevent fraudulent activities.' He also said the government was strengthening enforcement mechanisms to uphold industry credibility. Opaque supply chain The waste ingredients from which SAF is made change hands multiple times in a largely opaque system. To verify their sustainability, European regulators rely on checks by private auditors and agencies that issue green certificates based on their findings. But there is a systemic blind spot: The restaurants, street stalls, households and factories from which the UCO is pooled self-declare the origin of their contributions. Aside from ad hoc spot checks and sampling, there is no way of knowing that all of these providers are telling the truth. 'The opportunity ... of fraud is very high,' said Mr Vasu R. Vasuthewan, former Malaysia head for the ISCC. The Malaysian authorities recently uncovered criminal syndicates that had pocketed thousands of dollars a day by getting hold of large amounts of subsidised cooking oil, mixing it in with UCO, and then selling it on to industrial UCO traders. A member of the public purchases a one kg bag of subsidised cooking oil. To prevent abuse, people can only purchase three bags in one transaction as these bags costs only RM2.50 each. PHOTO: BERNAMA Sources within the industry told Climate Home News and ST that many households and restaurants are motivated to replace cooking oil after a single use – contrary to the standard practice of three to five times – and then sell it on as UCO. Cooking oil is considered waste when it is no longer fit for frying. 'Restaurant compliance (with sustainability standards) may be very low,' said Mr Vasuthewan, who now runs his own UCO import and export business. 'Many will fake their declaration, hoping they won't get caught.' Mr Delaney of T&E said it is difficult for auditors to physically check the origin of the oil, since hundreds of restaurants can supply the same collection point, making it a 'notable blind spot'. Singapore, a global SAF hub in the making Singapore is a key part of the global SAF supply chain and is positioning itself as a leader in the production and usage of such fuel. The Republic is home to the world's largest SAF refinery by capacity: Neste's biofuel refinery in Tuas. Its SAF production capacity is one million tonnes a year. Government trade data shows that Singapore is a major importer of UCO from China and Malaysia; this is most likely for the Neste refinery. The Republic also has a licensing framework for local UCO collectors, who pick up UCO mainly from restaurants, hotels and commercial kitchens, with about 19,000 tonnes collected annually from 2021 to 2024, according to the National Environment Agency. A pre-treatment facility at Finnish energy giant Neste's expanded refinery in Tuas South, which was officially opened on May 17, 2023. The facility filters out and removes impurities from materials such as used cooking oil and waste animal fats that are used to make renewable fuels. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG The Government regards SAF as a critical tool to reduce aviation emissions while allowing the industry to keep expanding and Changi Airport, one of the world's busiest, to keep growing. To ramp up SAF usage, from 2026, all flights departing Singapore's two civilian airports must use 1 per cent SAF. The goal is to reach 3 per cent to 5 per cent SAF use by 2030. Fraud is a concern for the authorities and the industry. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) told ST that it recognises the importance of ensuring transparency and integrity in SAF feedstocks. 'We are aware of concerns raised by various stakeholders, including the EU and the US, regarding fraudulent practices in the SAF supply chain. We share the same concerns as these pose risks to market confidence, fair trading and development of a nascent SAF market,' said CAAS chief sustainability officer Daniel Ng. He said the authority is working with the International Civil Aviation Organisation's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection to develop 'harmonised standards for feedstock verification to prevent further fraudulent practices'. Neste told ST, in response to questions: 'Neste sources traceable UCO and other renewable raw materials globally from carefully selected suppliers. Neste evaluates its suppliers and accepts renewable raw materials only from those suppliers that are able to meet strict criteria for sustainability.' 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While in some cases auditors conduct random field checks, that happens less often in countries outside the EU, industry experts say. According to Mr James Cogan, compliance and markets lead at Irish biofuel firm ClonBio, it is far easier for fraud to occur outside the EU where 'it's much less visible to us'. A 2024 analysis by T&E in China, for example, showed that sampling of points of origin happened in less than 10 per cent of the ISCC-approved audits, whereas in the EU, it was about 30 per cent. Mr Adam Kirby, ISCC's senior sustainability manager, told Climate Home News that auditors monitor volumes going in and out of collection points for any suspicious behaviour, in addition to carrying out spot checks. He added that the ISCC follows the requirements established by regulators like the European Commission. In 2024, the ISCC also conducted 79 special 'integrity assessments' – around two-thirds targeting Asia-based suppliers – which independently monitored the work of auditors. In a third of the cases, it found violations of its certification requirements, including an inability to demonstrate the traceability of products, leading to the withdrawal of 11 certificates. Evergreen Oil and Feed employees loads a container full of used cooking oil into one of their trucks at the Waste to Wealth collection drive at Malacca City Hall. The oil will then be sent to their filtration plant for processing. PHOTO: SAIRIEN NAFIS Long paper trail Under the current system, the entire SAF supply chain relies on a long paper trail rooted in those self-declarations and sporadic inspections at the points where UCO is collected. In Malaysia, Evergreen's owner C.K. Lau told ST that the company follows the proper processes in its collection based on the requirements established by the ISCC. He added that the documentation is critical as, otherwise, the company would not be able to export its UCO. Evergreen Oil and Feed owner CK Lau at his company's used cooking oil filtration facility in Malacca. PHOTO: SAIRIEN NAFIS Repsol, for its part, said it requires 'suppliers to be certified under European Commission-recognised voluntary regimes'. In turn, airline companies that buy from Repsol, such as the International Airlines Group (IAG) – the parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and Level – rely on documentation they get from it and other jet fuel providers, to show that the SAF they are paying for has green certification. In exceptional cases, IAG has sent its own staff to carry out checks on the ground, as with a Shanghai-based Chinese supplier in 2024. It told Climate Home News the outcome of that audit – which included supply, record-keeping, environmental and health and safety standards – was 'positive'. Mr Robert Boyd, Boeing's Asia-Pacific sustainability lead who previously worked for Iata, believes airlines' exacting standards will bring positive change in the SAF industry. 'You'll see a race to the top... on sustainability, and it will, in a way, be self-regulated,' he added. SAF certification faces EU scrutiny In the meantime, following a string of fraud allegations about the authenticity of UCO-derived biofuels imported from China, the EU has been trying to ascertain whether the certification system that governments and businesses rely on is fit for purpose. The EU authorities have been in talks to strengthen that system, leading to speculation that the ISCC could be suspended for failing to catch cases of biodiesel fraud. The ISCC denied in a statement that regulators had considered halting automatic EU-wide acceptance of its certificates, adding that its relationship with the European Commission remained constructive. 'There are always bad actors, there are always bad people, and there's only a certain amount of policing that can be done in any industry,' said Mr Kirby. 'We at ISCC have done, I think, an incredible job.' The ISCC did not respond to follow-up questions from Climate Home News on whether it has full confidence in the current system, including self-declaration. A European Commission spokeswoman said the bloc's executive arm was closely monitoring the SAF market 'to detect and prevent fraud, which risks undermining the EU's ambition to effectively decarbonise air transport'. Two sample jars show used restaurant frying grease (right) and the refined end product of biodiesel. PHOTO: REUTERS Demand for UCO sizzles Demand for SAF and UCO is only expected to increase as usage in Europe, Asia and elsewhere grows and as new refineries are completed in China, South Korea and Malaysia. In 2024, Malaysia's state energy firm Petronas, Italy's Enilive, and Euglena of Japan announced they would develop a biorefinery at Petronas' Pengerang Integrated Complex in Johor. Due for completion in 2028, it would produce SAF and other biofuels. Malaysia plans to mandate SAF usage by 2027, with the initial goal of blending it into aviation fuel at a 1 per cent rate. Leading European refiners like Repsol are pushing for a level global playing field as well as more public funding to bring down costs and help develop the nascent sector on the continent. Iata warned earlier in June that the European mandates had caused the SAF price paid by airlines to double because of hefty compliance fees being charged by producers. Repsol's aviation head Carlos Suarez Cubillo warned that fuel producers in parts of the world with laxer rules could produce SAF 'with less regulation and less control of the feedstock... and here in Europe that could de-incentivise the production, the construction of new facilities'. In Brazil, for example, an emerging SAF industry is gearing up to use crop-based feedstocks that are commonly linked to deforestation – and are therefore banned in Europe – such as soya and palm oil, as well as sugarcane-based ethanol, which has been linked to labour abuses and modern slavery. An investigation by Climate Home News' partner in Brazil, InfoAmazonia, found that the palm oil producer behind a planned biorefinery in the Amazon region – billed as Brazil's first SAF project – is growing the crop on land areas subject to sanctions by the national environment agency over illegal deforestation, and is struggling financially after rights abuse allegations. Iata hopes its efforts to put in place a global registry for SAF, launched in April as a voluntary initiative, will boost transparency around feedstocks and their greenhouse gas savings – and enable airlines to have some level of visibility and comparability between countries, fuel providers and airports. SAF producers and airlines are also looking to other waste-based materials to meet rising mandates – especially as more advanced fuels made from hydrogen and carbon dioxide, known as e-SAF, are still being developed and tested. Repsol, for example, recently closed a deal with US vegetable oils giant Bunge to source camelina and safflower – non-food crops that can grow on poor land – to produce hydrotreated vegetable oil for biodiesel and SAF. In January, it also announced it would invest more than €800 million in Europe's first plant in the Catalan city of Tarragona to produce renewable methanol from organic urban waste, for use in maritime, road and aviation transport from 2029. 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Russia's President Vladimir Putin applauds during a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Bahrain's National Security Advisor Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and South Africa's Deputy President Paul Mashatile attend a plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 20, 2025. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Russia's Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, who has led the state's efforts to seize property worth 2.4 trillion roubles ($31 billion), on Friday said foreign companies that return to the country would be watched closely to ensure Russia benefited. Moscow has placed around a dozen foreign-owned assets under state management in the more than three years that Russia has been fighting in Ukraine and prosecutors have stepped up the seizure of domestic assets through the courts this year. Now, as the economy begins to slow after two years of growth fuelled by high military spending, Russian officials are trying to find the balance between insulating the economy from exposure to Western nations it considers unfriendly and the need for growth to keep funding the conflict in Ukraine. "We will closely follow the government's actions," Krasnov said. "That is, who will come... on what terms they will come." "We will definitely look at making sure that the conditions under which our (Russian) business operates are better (when Western business returns)," Krasnov said. It must be profitable for Russia's own firms, he said. Russia is prioritising domestic companies, some of whom have taken market share vacated by Western firms, such as McDonald's and Unilever, that have left since Russia launched the conflict in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin on Friday said the Russian economy could not develop effectively without investment and said Moscow would create conditions to make foreign partners feel comfortable. He said Russian companies should fulfil legally binding buybacks with foreign companies, but stressed that Russia would support measures that benefit its own interests. "If someone left for political reasons, under pressure from their own political elites, their countries, then this means they are unreliable partners," Putin said. WESTERN FIRMS ABSENT Kirill Dmitriev, chief of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, has said that U.S. companies are in talks to return to Russia, although lawyers and investors have told Reuters that sanctions must be lifted before any significant influx can take place. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told the Izvestia daily on Friday that no foreign companies had yet submitted requests to return. "There are no applications for entry yet, but I feel that the situation is changing and interest in investing in Russia is growing," Siluanov said. The sparse Western presence at Russia's forum suggests otherwise, with some analysts also pointing to concerns about property rights. Two sources from Russia's energy and banking sectors said some companies may be interested in returning as there could be money to be made, but not in the current situation. Assets owned by French yoghurt maker Danone and Danish brewer Carlsberg are among the foreign assets taken under state control and sold to Kremlin-friendly buyers since 2022. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
