Air India rerouting west-bound flights as Pakistan restricts airspace usage

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has barred aircraft taking off from Delhi and entering its airspace to fly below 32,000 feet. A notice to airmen (Notam) issued by Delhi air traffic control on Wednesday said “due restrictions conveyed by Lahore (air control), lowest flight level available is F320 (32,000) for flights exiting VIDP (Delhi) via (three entry point to Pakistan) Sulom/Gugal/Raban.”

The Notam issued by Delhi ATC said that "no flight permitted to operate to/from VIAR (Amritsar), VIPK (Pathankot), VISR (Srinagar), VIJU (Jammu), VILH (Leh), VISM (Shimla), VIGG (Kangra), VIBR (Kullu) due operational reasons." The two Notam are in effect for three months till May 27, 2019.


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Air India has decided to reroute its west-bound flights from Delhi. The airline has a number of flights to Europe from Delhi in the afternoon that fly over Pakistan and then enter Afghanistan on their western journey. These flights, sources said, are being rerouted and will take off once the new route is finalised.

Air India had in fact been preparing for this since Tuesday. Instead of going over Pakistan, the alternate routes for west-bound flight from north Indian airports like Delhi could see them flying towards Mumbai side and then take a right turn to Muscat after which they take the normal route to the west.

“The flying time on way out to Europe and US from Delhi could increase by up to two hours and on way in by up to an hour,” said sources. The additional flying time could mean AI’s highly popular nonstops to US taking a technical/refuelling stop either at Ahmedabad or Milan, they added.

The new routing is expected to be finalised in a few hours. “We can go Ahmedabad side and then take a right. But that means we are still flying in Pakistan airspace. Going further down closer to Mumbai and then taking right over the sea Enroute to Muscat side means avoiding Pak airspace all together,” said a pilot.

“Some flights that took off for Jammu and Srinagar Wednesday morning returned to the origin cities. Some aircraft that had to a quick return and had landed in Jammu are nor unable to take off from there. Flights bound for these places were boarded at airports like Delhi but they did not take off,” said sources. Civilian flights to Pathankot, Dharamshala and Dehradun may also be affected, sources added.

Vistara tweeted: “Due to airspace restrictions, flights to and from Amritsar, Srinagar, Chandigarh and Jammu are currently on hold. Customers are requested to check flight status before commencing their journey to the airport.”