European carriers start avoiding Pakistani airspace
NEW DELHI: Pakistan may have shut its airspace for India airlines, but now European and British carriers have also started avoiding overflying that country. Lufthansa Group, which includes SWISS, confirmed doing so.
Flight tracking site Flightradar24 Thursday posted on X: "Air France, British Airways & Swiss flights adjusting routing since (April 30) to avoid crossing through Pakistan. Some airways in northern Pakistan are NOTAM'd unavailable through May, leading to adjusted routings with Pakistan as well." On Friday, it said, "Lufthansa, ITA Airways, and LOT joining the list of airlines routing around Pakistan (May 2)." NOTAM is a notice to alert pilots of potential hazards along a flight route.
Some flights that avoided overflying Pakistan in the last two days without a NOTAM requiring them to do so include Lufthansa's Munich-Delhi, Frankfurt-Mumbai, Frankfurt-Hyderabad and Bangkok- Munich; LOT's Warsaw-Delhi and Alitalia successor ITA's Rome-Delhi. This added up to an hour to their flying time.
All countries do their own risk assessment for overflying any region, and if they deem a place unsafe even if there is no NOTAM barring overflying, they reroute. "We are constantly monitoring the situation. The moment India-Pakistan conflict escalates, all flights will steer clear of the conflict zones. Airlines have done their last-minute rerouting as many planes will be enroute when and if the conflict escalates," said an official of a leading western airline.
"In conducting its operations, KLM always prioritises safety of passengers and staff. Selecting safe and optimalroutes is a standard part of our daily practice, and we continuously assess the safety situation... Based on current safety information, KLM and other airlines are currently flying over Pakistan," KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said.
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