Flights from India to Europe and North America are taking 4 extra hours and requiring fuel stops as airlines avoid Pakistan

Yahoo

28-04-2025

Airlines are adding hours of flight time to reroute around Pakistan amid rising tensions.
Air India has added a fuel stop in Europe on treks to and from North America.
IndiGo has suspended some flights to Central Asia because its planes now can't make the trek.
Flights by Indian carriers, including Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet, are spending hours of extra time circumventing closed Pakistan airspace amid rising tensions between the two nations.
The carriers could previously fly west across neighboring Pakistan to connect to countries in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Now, they must reroute around Pakistan's borders after the government closed its airspace to Indian airlines following India's response to an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday.
Air India's Delhi hub is most impacted, as planes must detour south around Pakistan and across the Arabian Sea before returning north. With more miles to cover, some flights to North America must stop in Europe to fuel up before finishing their trek across the Atlantic, adding up to four hours to their passengers' journeys.
An Air India spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that treks to North America will stop in Vienna or Copenhagen for fuel, adding up to four hours of travel time. He added that other flights to Europe and the Middle East will see "extended" routes.
Another airline, IndiGo, is suspending some routes due to the closure.
India-based CNBC affiliate CNBC-TV18 reported the budget carrier has temporarily cut flights to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, through at least May 7 because the now longer westward treks are too far for its narrow-body Airbus planes to reach.
Take Sunday's flight from Delhi to Chicago, for example. The plane flew about eight hours to Vienna, spent about an hour and a half on the ground, and then flew another nine hours to the US.
Sunday's flight to New York, which stopped in Copenhagen, spent about the same time in the air and a similar 90 minutes on the ground.
The more than 18-hour journeys exceeded the typical 14 to 15-hour treks pre-Pakistan closure.
San Francisco flights to and from Mumbai, previously about 17-hour flights, now exceed 20 hours of travel time with the stop.
"Air India regrets the inconvenience caused to our passengers due to this unforeseen airspace closure that is outside our control," the spokesperson said. "We would like to reiterate that at Air India, the safety of our customers and crew remains top priority."
Even if Air India operates some westbound long-haul flights nonstop, the lengthy detour will still add hours of flight time.
Flight tracking data shows that the route from Toronto to Delhi on Friday and Saturday flew nonstop in about 15 hours, compared to the typically 13 hours previously.
Nonstop flights from India to Europe and the Middle East are less affected time-wise, but can still be a nuisance for travelers.
Air India flights from Delhi to cities like Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, and London took about nine hours before Thursday; now they're reaching 10 or more.
SpiceJet and IndiGo said they're seeing a similar impact, with IndiGo announcing that 50 international routes would be longer than usual.
For example, since Thursday, Flightradar24 shows IndiGo's flight from Delhi to Tbilisi, Georgia, has taken up to an hour extra. SpiceJet's route from Amritsar, India, to Dubai is similarly longer.
All three airlines have advised customers on social media and their websites to monitor their flight status for schedule adjustments, rebooking, and refund options.
This isn't the first time geopolitical tensions have forced lengthy detours. Carriers like Finnair and United Airlines started flying extra hours to Asia after Russia closed its airspace following its attack on Ukraine in 2022.
Read the original article on Business Insider