Amid soaring tensions in West Asia due to the Iran and Israel conflict, Air India flights have started taking a detour as they are now avoiding operations in the Iranian airspace. According to sources, now, all Air India flights bound for Europe could take up to two hours longer to reach the destinations.
This comes a day after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) “advised” Indian nationals to not travel till further notice to Iran and Israel - the two countries teetering on the brink of a major military escalation.
According to Flightradar24 website, Air India flight that took off from Delhi at 4.30 am on Saturday did not overfly Iran and took an alternate route to London. Instead of the usual India-Pakistan-Iran-Turkey-Black Sea route to Europe, Air India took a northern route.
Air India flights to the Middle East, however, will not be impacted as they fly South of Iranian airspace. Besides, Air India, Germany’s Lufthansa have already started avoiding Iranian air space since Thursday while Australian airline Qantas said on Saturday it would redirect its long-haul flights between Perth and London to avoid Iran’s airspace amid soaring Middle East tensions.
On Friday, Lufthansa flight to Mumbai took the Greece- Mediterranean Sea-Saudi Arabia-Persian Gulf-Arabian Sea route to Mumbai. Earlier it used to take the Black Sea-Iran-Pakistan route to Mumbai.
Lufthansa on Thursday said it had suspended flights to and from Tehran until probably April 13, extending its suspension by two days.
Notably, the increased geopolitical tensions have added more routes to the no fly zones for airlines. Commercial airliners avoid Afghanistan ever since the country was taken over by the Taliban; Russia’s war in Ukraine has made both the countries no overflying zones for most western airlines; US carriers have been avoiding Iran for some time now. Now airliners would have to avoid the airspace of Iran.
Meanwhile, India, France, and Russia among other countries have advised their citizens against traveling to the region, which is already tense due to the ongoing seven-month war in Gaza.
India on Friday asked its citizens not to travel to Iran and Israel amid increasing fears that Tehran may launch an attack on Israeli soil in retaliation to a strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria 11 days ago.
People familiar with the latest developments said no more Indians will be allowed to go to Israel to work in the construction sector. The first batch of 64 Indian workers had left for Israel earlier this month and over 6,000 construction workers from India were to leave for Israel in April and May.
In an advisory, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also urged the Indians residing in Iran and Israel to exercise utmost precautions about their safety and restrict their movements to minimum. “In view of the prevailing situation in the region, all Indians are advised not to travel to Iran or Israel till further notice,” it said.
“All those who are currently residing in Iran or Israel are requested to get in touch with Indian Embassies there and register themselves,” the MEA said.
As the US remains on high alert in response to the Israeli attack on Iranian consulate Syria, President Joe Biden stated on Friday that he was expecting Tehran to attack Israel ``sooner than later.” However, he warned the Islamic state against attacking, stressing that the United States will defend Israel. Gulf nations are pressing the United States not to respond to any possible Iranian attack on Israel by using US military bases located on their soil.
