Air India Turns Vienna Into a Gas Station Amid Pakistan Airspace Shutdown

Air India is being forced to use Vienna and Copenhagen as gas station pit stops to operate its ultra-long-haul flights to the United States because Pakistan has shuttered its airspace to all Indian-registered planes in the wake of a deadly terror attack in the disputed region of Kashmir.

On Saturday alone, six Air India planes made stopovers at Vienna Wien-Schwechat Airport, not because that was their intended destination, but to load more fuel so they could reach cities like New York and Chicago.

What’s behind these European pitstops?

The reason for the unscheduled stopovers, which add at least three hours to flights from New Delhi to New York JFK, can be traced back to a bloody gun attack carried out by heavily armed militants on a group of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

In the wake of the attack, lawmakers in New Delhi placed blame for allowing militants to operate in Kashmir on the Pakistani government.

In response to a series of sanctions, the Pakistani government responded in kind with its own set of diplomatic measures, including shuttering its airspace to all Indian-controlled or registered aircraft, including wet-leased airplanes, last Thursday.

This measure had an immediate effect on Air India flights heading West towards Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

Which Flights Are Affected?

But while the airspace restriction is more of a minor inconvenience for European and Middle East flights, they are causing a far bigger headache for Air India’s ultra-long-haul flights to North America.

Prior to the airspace closure, Air India flights to North America flew north through Pakistani airspace and then followed the so-called “Great Circle route,” which is the shortest possible distance using the Earth’s curvature.

Air India had a big advantage over many Western airlines because it was still permitted to use Russian airspace and was therefore able to use the ‘Great Circle Route.’ Now, that is no longer possible.

Some of Air India’s impacted flights include:

• AI119 Mumbai – New York
• AI186 Vancouver – Delhi
• AI174 San Francisco – Delhi
• AI103 Delhi – Washington
• AI127 Delhi – Chicago
• AI187 Delhi – Toronto

Other impacted flights include AI101 from Delhi to New York’s JFK airport, which diverted to Copenhagen on Monday for a short refueling stop.

The Airbus A350-1000 landed in Copenhagen at around 9:10 a.m. on April 28 and remained on the ground for nearly two hours before being loaded with more fuel and given the all-clear to continue its journey to New York.

The flight isn’t now expected to reach New York until around 1 pm, whereas before the Pakistani airspace closure, it was scheduled to land in New York at around 7:45 am.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Air India explained: “Due to the announced restriction of Pakistan airspace for all Indian airlines, it is expected that some Air India flights to or from North America, UK, Europe, and Middle East will take an alternative extended route.”

The statement continued: “Air India regrets the inconvenience caused to our passengers due to this unforeseen airspace closure that is outside our control.”

Matt’s take – Is This Sustainable?

Air India does at least have a temporary solution to keep its flights to North America operating uninterrupted, but this doesn’t seem like a sustainable alternative to operating flights through Pakistani airspace.

As someone who has worked in the commercial aviation industry for longer than I dare admit, I know firsthand how diversions, especially on ultra-long-haul flights, can have a massive impact on crew rosters, flight schedules, and passenger welfare.

With these delays piling up, its going to become harder for Air India to maintain its schedule and fleet plan, as well as ensuring that crew schedules remain intact.

Unfortunately, Air India might have to take a financial hit for some time. The last time Pakistan shut its airspace to Indian aircraft was in 2019, and it remained closed for nearly five months.