Airlines Rush To Secure Safe Flight Paths As They Navigate Amid Turmoil In West Asia: Report

Air India, Qantas, Lufthansa and other airlines are growing increasingly concerned about the worsening Iran-Israel conflict. Some of these airlines like Air India said they will not fly over the Iranian airspace while tensions between Iran and Israel remain high.

Air India on Sunday decided to temporarily suspend flights to Tel Aviv as well. Air India operates four weekly flights between the national capital and Israeli city.

A report by the Times of India said pilots, air-traffic controllers and route planners are being kept busy as GPS signal jamming and spoofing in the region is forcing them to continuously look for safer alternatives.

Another pilot speaking to the newspaper said that GPS signals are frequently jammed around Iran and Turkey.

It also said that fuel stops are being added to long non-stop flights between west and south Asia since they take longer routes to avoid Iranian airspace. Flights to and from India are also doing the same.

Nonstop flights by Swiss Air between Zurich and Delhi will take a fuel halt in Vienna, the newspaper further added.

The report said that Air India diverted its San Francisco-Mumbai AI 180 to Dubai on Sunday for refuelling. The report citing an unnamed official said airspaces reopen at daytime and close at night time since attacks mostly happen at night and airspace of neighbouring countries like Kuwait and Jordan also close when there is fear of attacks.

A senior official of an European airline said that flights to southern Indian cities are not affected but those to Delhi and Mumbai will be.

The Hindukush route, also known as Papa 500, was initially used by Air India to fly its direct flights between Delhi and Mumbai and the West, particularly North America, during the period when Afghan airspace was inaccessible some years ago. This has proven to be immensely beneficial for the airline even though it traversed Russian airspace.

The older Boeing 777 aircraft equipped with an additional oxygen tank used to use this route and were unaffected by the closure of Iran’s airspace.

However, the Boeing 777s acquired from Delta and Etihad by the airline lack the supplementary oxygen tank and consequently cannot utilise the Hindukush route.