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Time of India
20 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Indo-Pak tension impact: 2 flights from North America make re-fuelling pitstops at Kol airport
1 2 Kolkata: Two Air India flights—one from San Francisco to Mumbai and the other from Vancouver to Delhi—are making a refuelling pit stop at the Kolkata airport as the aircraft have to take a rerout amid the ban on Indian flights in the Pakistani airspace. "The San Francisco-Mumbai flight stops in Kolkata for refuelling in the early hours, while the Vancouver-Delhi flight arrives in the evening to refuel after the long-haul flight across the Atlantic Ocean," a Kolkata airport official told TOI. The rerouting of the international flights came into focus after several other AI flights to the West were rerouted on Friday following the closure of the Iranian airspace due to Israeli airstrikes. Altogether, 18 Indian flights were diverted or delayed. On Saturday, AI 180 from San Francisco landed at 12.35 am in Kolkata after travelling almost 17 hours. The Boeing 777-200LR aircraft made a technical halt for refuelling and change of crew due to Flying Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) before it again resumed its journey to reach Mumbai at 4 am. Similarly, Flight AI 186 from Vancouver landed in Kolkata at 4.10 pm on Saturday for refuelling. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo The Boeing 777-300ER flew more than 15 hours non-stop before touching down in Kolkata. It departed for Delhi after refuelling. An official at Kolkata airport said the time schedule for regular maintenance work on the primary runway was adjusted to accommodate the Vancouver flight. "Between Tuesdays and Thursdays, the primary runway is usually shut from 11 am to 4 pm for regular maintenance. During this time, the secondary runway is available for operations. The Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), a notification issued to pilots about the closure, was thereafter altered. Now, the primary runway opens at 3.30 pm so that AI 186 does not face any problem when it arrives," the official pointed out. In the absence of the primary runway in Kolkata, the Vancouver flight would otherwise have had to make a landing in Dhaka for refuelling. With no certainty about when Pakistan will reopen the airspace and routes will be restored, the travel trade industry in Kolkata has urged Air India to consider operating the flight from Kolkata, running the Delhi-Kolkata leg as an 'international-cum-domestic' sector. "These flights are making a technical stop in Kolkata. Many on board the flights, who are from the east, have to again take flights back to Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Ranchi or Guwahati. It would be great if these passengers could disembark in Kolkata. Also, this would gift Kolkata a long-awaited long-haul international sector flight," a travel agent said. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has time and again pointed at the need for Kolkata to have a direct flight to Europe and America. Officials said this was the opportune moment for the Bengal govt to reach out to the Centre and request it to assign traffic rights for the flight to Kolkata. That, an official said, should not be a problem as AI was an Indian carrier. Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
The Hindu
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Air India starts using Mongolian airspace for North America flights to cut costs
Air India has started using the Mongolian airspace for a few of its North America flights from the national capital as an alternative route for reducing operational costs that have jumped due to the closure of the Pakistan airspace last month, sources said on Tuesday. Besides, the carrier is having a technical stop in Kolkata for some of the North America flights from Delhi, they added. 71 flights a week The Tata Group-owned airline has been exploring alternatives for the services from the national capital to North America in order to reduce the flying time as well as operational expenses. At present, Air India operates 71 flights a week to North American destinations. Of them, 54 services are from the national capital. The airline flies to Chicago, New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Newark in the U.S., and to Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. Mostly, the Mongolian airspace is used by some of Air India's flights from San Francisco and Vancouver. The flights from Delhi to these two cities are mostly using the Pacific route, according to the sources. The flights AI186 from Vancouver to Delhi and AI174 from San Francisco to Delhi have been using the Mongolian airspace for the past few days, as per information from flight tracking website For some of the flights connecting North America cities and Delhi, the utilisation of the Mongolian airspace and a technical stop at Kolkata are among the alternatives that have been chosen by Air India, the sources said. With such an arrangement in place, the airline does not have to make a stop in a European city while operating certain long haul and ultra long haul flights from Delhi to North America. Having a stop in a European city means higher expenses, including landing charges and fuel costs, according to the sources. The alternative also helps in addressing the challenges of higher fuel burn, operational expenses and flying duty time limitation (FDTL) for the crew. Under the norms of aviation regulator DGCA, flight crew can work continuously only for eight hours. With the normal flight time getting longer, the crew will be in breach of the FDTL rules. When there is a landing en route, the airline can seek permission for the crew to do their duty for additional hours. In the case of long haul and ultra long haul flights – those above the 14-hour duration – airlines will have two sets of crew. Air India MD and CEO Campbell Wilson, in a message to staff on May 2, said there had been a number of network-related developments and the airline had temporarily adjusted some of its Europe and U.S. routes in response to recent airspace restrictions, as well as added a few technical stops. On May 2, sources said the airline was looking at various alternatives for its North America flights from the national capital, including operating the services with a technical stop in a city within India. In the wake of retaliatory measures taken by India after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that killed 26 people, Pakistan closed its airspace for Indian airlines on April 24. The airspace closure has resulted in longer flying hours, higher fuel consumption, payload and aircraft availability issues as well as crew flying duty time limitation challenges for airlines operating international flights to the West. India also closed its airspace for Pakistan airlines on April 30. On Saturday, India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea with immediate effect.
