NEW DELHI: Even as airlines are grappling with the closure of airspace in Pakistan post the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, the Israel-Iran conflict has put further stress on them. Cancellation of flights or circuitous routes has become the norm since June 13 after Israel announced the closure of its airspace. An Air India official said, “The closure of airspace by Pakistan followed by Israel, Iran, Iraq and then Jordan has forced us to take a roundabout route via Egypt, which involves an additional 45 to 60 minutes travel for every flight. On the day Israel announced the closure of its airspace, we had to divert 16 flights when they were airborne.”The official said, “We operate an average of 50 flights (inward and outward) daily from India to the US and Europe. All of them have to go down south and fly through Egyptian air space. It has definitely increased the turnaround time for all our flights.”Air India has flights to Vienna, Copenhagen, London, Zurich, Milan, Paris and Frankfurt in Europe. It also has flights to Los Angeles, Newark, New York and San Francisco in the US.Making operations tougher are the stringent tests ordered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the aftermath of the Ahmedabad flight accident. “These tests take anywhere between four and seven hours,” an official said.
Source link
