On 24 April, Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian aircraft, cutting off a key pathway for Indian airlines to reach destinations north and west of India. The inability to fly through Pakistan has impacted Air India’s long-haul flights to North America the most, requiring new routing and fuel stops for most flights.
Refueling in Vienna and Copenhagen
Without access to Pakistan’s airspace, the distance from Delhi to destinations in North America becomes too great for a single flight and a fuel stop becomes necessary. Air India has established Vienna (VIE | LOWW) and Copenhagen (CPH | EKCH) as primary refueling stops, with Vienna seeing most of the traffic.
The re-routing and extra stop for fuel is adding between three and six hours to the total trip time, mostly affecting flights to/from Delhi (DEL | VIDP). For example, AI127 from Delhi to Chicago previously used Pakistan’s airspace to travel north from Delhi, taking the flight on a polar region routing that covered about 12,500 kilometers, only about 500 kilometers longer than the great circle routing. The average time for that flight over the past 30 days is 14:47.
With the need to route around Pakistan and stop for fuel, the flight now travels nearly 15,000 km and takes more than 19 hours in total (including time spent refueling).
Eastbound flights also affected
Some eastbound flights have also required a fuel stop. Depending on distance and aircraft type, some of Air India’s flights from North America are also stopping in Vienna or Copenhagen on their return legs.
Interestingly, Air India’s flight between Delhi and San Francisco is only affected when traveling from San Francisco to Delhi as the flight from Delhi travels eastbound to take advantage of winds. We’ve previously written about the special eastbound routing used by some Air India flights.
Returning to Delhi from San Francisco non-stop, AI174 averaged a flight time of 15:25. With the new fuel stop in Vienna, the total trip time is now more than 20 hours.
Regional flights adding time, too
IndiGo’s flight 6E1806 between Tashkent and Delhi is perhaps the starkest example of the effects on regional flights. The pre-ban routing took the flight north through Pakistan, lasting an economical 2:18 on average. The flight is now routing around Pakistan, traveling through Iran and Turkmenistan now for a new flight time of about 5:30 covering 2.5 times the distance as the old route.
More fuel, more time, for how long?
The NOTAM prohibiting Indian aircraft in Pakistan’s airspace is currently scheduled to last through 23 May 2025, though it is not yet know how the current tensions between Indian and Pakistan will affect any extension or early removal of the prohibition. For the foreseeable future it seems that Indian airlines will to plan for the long way around.
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