New Delhi: India diverted about 600 flights in five days after Pakistan decided to close its airspace to Indian flights.
Pakistan closed its airspace on April 24, 2025. Following this, Air India and IndiGo flights flying to Europe and North America had to change their routes.
About 120 flights had to make service stops en route to refuel while flying to places like Europe and North America.
Figures show that 800 international flights of Indian airlines flew through Pakistani airspace every week in March this year.
However, the Indo-Pak tensions that erupted following the Pahalgam attack on April 22, 2025 have made it costly for Indian airlines to fly through alternative airspace. The service has also become more complicated.
International flights to Middle Eastern cities from Delhi, Amritsar, Srinagar, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Jaipur are now taking an additional 15 to 45 minutes, while flights to Europe are taking an additional 1.5 hours.
If Pakistan’s airspace closure continues for a month, Indian airlines could lose $10 million to $15 million, said Linus Boyer, MD of UAE-based consultancy BAA & Partners.
Linus Boyer says the cost of fuel, overtime, flight cancellations, and reduced cargo capacity on longer flights are all factors that contribute to the cost.
As planes fly longer distances, fuel consumption increases. This alone can cost an airline between $1,350 and $3,000.
Fuel accounts for about 25 percent of an airline’s total operating costs. When these costs increase, airlines are forced to increase ticket prices.
Airlines have been asking the government to consider subsidies to offset the higher costs and avoid price increases.
Currently, Indian airlines are banned from using Pakistani airspace. However, Pakistan does not prohibit airlines from other countries from flying to India or from flying abroad from India.
