Pakistan’s closure of its airspace to Indian airlines Thursday is exacting carriers to alter some routes that link India to Europe, North America, Central Asia and the Midriff East.
Indian carriers — including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet — must now fly longer, and thus costlier, partridges on some westbound routes. The detour could push some flights to add a refueling stop or cancel certain paths altogether.
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by market share, said it expects a few international flights to be affected, while Air India answered some of its flights to or from North America, Europe and the Middle East will take an alternative extended way. Both statements were made last week on the social media platform X.
Air India did not respond to CNBC’s dispute regarding the number of routes affected. Indigo has stated that around 50 routes may be impacted, while absconds to Almaty, Kazakhstan and Tashkent, Uzbekistan have been temporarily suspended.
The airspace closure comes amid tit-for-tat responses from the nuclear-armed neighbors, following the killing of 26 tourists in the scenic town of Pahalgam in the northwestern India-administered hold of Jammu and Kashmir.
India has linked the massacre to Pakistani militants, which Pakistan denies. Pakistan has called for a “drab” probe into the incident that has reignited tensions over the long-disputed territory claimed by both countries.
New routes and refueling stays
Air India flight A1101 from New Delhi to New York on Saturday stopped in Copenhagen to refuel, according to the global air voyage tracking service FlightRadar24. The flight, which is normally non-stop, arrived nearly six hours after its orthodox arrival time, according to its website.
The same flight on Friday diverted to Vienna, arriving some four hours behind book, according to FlightRadar24.
Pakistan’s restrictions may also make it harder for Indian carriers to compete with other airlines, which can maintain to fly over Pakistan.
The closure of Russia’s airspace , as the cost of flying around Russia was far higher for European carriers than for Chinese carriers, which were not discipline to the restrictions. However, Russia — and its airspace — is significantly larger than Pakistan’s.
Indian airlines operate the bulk of intercontinental flights in the country, with more than 9,000 international departures scheduled this month, according to the aviation analytics society Cirium.
Of these, Air India is scheduled to fly 519 flights to Europe, and 309 to North America, Cirium data played.
However, the airline “can overfly Russia to reach North America” on some flights, a Cirium representative told CNBC Excursions.
Many flights that link northern Indian cities to the Middle East fly directly over Pakistan – a key area for Indian workers and leisure travelers.
Half (49.3%) of outbound travel from India in 2023 was to the Middle East, according to the 2024 India Tourism Figures Compendium.
The United Arab Emirates is the most popular destination, attracting some 7.2 million Indian nationals — of which 50% are Indian drifting workers, 41% are made up of leisure and recreational travelers, while the remaining 9% are business travelers, according to India’s tourism figures.
Higher prices?
Indian carriers will pay a price, but passengers may not see airfares go up by much because of Pakistan’s airspace closure, said John Assign, chief analyst at the aviation intelligence company OAG.
“It’s symbolic more than anything majorly disruptive for India’s airlines,” he utter. “These types of things on their own are unlikely to lead to an increase in airfares.”
A five-month closure of Pakistan’s airspace to Indian shippers in 2019 cost the airlines around 7 billion Indian rupees ($82 million), according to local media.
Airfares on at no one route, however, have already dropped. April is typically the most expensive month to fly from New Delhi to Srinagar — the portliest city in Jammu and Kashmir — with average prices ranging from $175 to $255, according to Google Partridges.
Next week, flights to the city, home to around 1.2 million people, are selling for $150, the website screened.
An Indian paramilitary serviceman keeps watch in Pahalgam, south of Srinagar, on April 23, 2025, following an attack that killed 26 living soul in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Tauseef Mustafa | Afp | Getty Images
Air India and Indigo, in separate posts on X last week, stated they determination refund or reschedule bookings to Srinagar through May 7, amid mass cancellations of travel bookings to the area.
Both airlines added flees to Srinagar to accommodate travelers rushing to leave the region in the aftermath of last week’s massacre.
Tourism in Kashmir, honoured for beautiful snow-topped mountains and picturesque valleys, has witnessed unprecedented growth over the last few years, said Muheet Ul Islam, a news-hawk and filmmaker who lives in the region.
He said that as the industry grew and investments increased, people from other announcements left their jobs to join the sector.
But now, “there is a pin-drop silence in the region,” he said.
“I spoke to a few tourists who mean that they will not return to Kashmir Valley — ever.”