Asian airlines reroute, cancel flights due to India-Pakistan fighting

TAIPEI - Several Asian airlines on May 7 said they were rerouting or cancelling flights to and from Europe because of fighting between India and Pakistan, while about a dozen Indian airports were shut after fighting erupted between India and Pakistan.

India attacked Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir

, and Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed enemies.

Images from flight tracking websites after India’s attack showed a long line of planes passing over Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, raising the possibility of airspace congestion.

There were 57 international flights operating in Pakistan’s airspace when India struck, said a spokesperson for Pakistan’s army.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement that India’s action caused grave danger to commercial airlines belonging to Gulf countries and endangered lives.

In the past few days, India and Pakistan shut their airspaces to each other’s airlines. Global airlines like Lufthansa have also been avoiding Pakistan’s airspace.

Domestic flights in both countries were also disrupted.

India’s top airline IndiGo said it was cancelling 165 flights until the morning of May 10. Its shares were down 1.1 per cent on May 7.

Flights by Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air were also cancelled, as India shut several airports.

Flight tracking website images showed that the north-western areas of India and Pakistan’s entire airspace were nearly free of civilian aircraft, barring a few flights.

Pakistan said its airspace was open following closure after the attacks and that its airports were “fully functional”.

Changing schedules

The changing flight schedules are set to further complicate operations in the Middle East and South Asia regions for carriers, which are already grappling with the fallout from conflicts in the two regions.

All flights by Singapore Airlines (SIA) and budget airline Scoot stopped flying over Pakistani airspace as of May 6, and have been using alternative flight paths.

The rerouting may result in slightly longer flight times for some flights, said a spokesperson for SIA in response to queries from The Straits Times.

A Scoot spokesperson said two Scoot flights departing Singapore for Amritsar were cancelled because the Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in the north-western Indian city was closed.

Affected customers for the May 7 and May 9 flights have been notified and offered assistance.

Scoot said alternative flight paths through the Middle East have been used for some flights to and from Athens since May 6.

Taiwan’s Eva Air said that it will adjust its flights to and from Europe to avoid airspace affected by fighting between India and Pakistan for safety reasons. Its shares were down about 1.7 per cent.

One flight from Vienna will be diverted back to that city, while a flight from Taipei to Milan will be diverted to Vienna for refuelling before continuing on to its destination, the airline said in a statement to Reuters.

Korean Air said it began rerouting its Incheon-Dubai flights on May 7, opting for a southern route that passes over Myanmar, Bangladesh and India, instead of the previous path through Pakistani airspace.

Thai Airways started rerouting flights to destinations in Europe and South Asia from the early morning of May 7, while Vietnam Airlines said tensions between India and Pakistan had affected its flight plans.

Malaysia Airlines rerouted two flights from Kuala Lumpur – one to London Heathrow and the other to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, AFP reported. They stopped in Doha before continuing on their way. The carrier also suspended all flights to and from Amritsar until May 9.

Taiwan’s China Airlines said that flights to and from destinations including London, Frankfurt and Rome had been disrupted, with some cancelled and others making technical stops in Bangkok and Prague to refuel and change crews, before taking longer flight paths. Its shares were down more than 2 per cent.

Some flights from India to Europe also took longer routes.

Lufthansa’s Flight LH761 from Delhi to Frankfurt turned right towards the Arabian Sea near the western Indian city of Surat, taking a longer path compared with its route on May 6, according to FlightRadar24.

Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many Europe-bound flights from Taiwan flew over Russia, but Taiwanese airlines are now banned after Taipei joined the West in imposing sanctions on Moscow, and generally fly over India, Pakistan and Central Asia.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines voiced concern over the impact of conflicts on airline operations. “Apart from cost and operational disruption, there are safety concerns as GPS spoofing interfering with flight operations over conflict zones is one of the highest risks the industry faces,” it said in a statement.

GPS spoofing is a malicious technique that manipulates Global Positioning System data, which can send commercial airliners off course. REUTERS