April 26, 2025 – Retaliating to India’s strong response to the recent Pahalgam attack, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines. This move will directly impact passengers flying from most northern cities in India as international flights will now have to take alternative routes, leading to longer durations and increased fuel consumption. As a result, it is expected that airlines may raise fares by 8 to 12 per cent.

Air India and IndiGo have already confirmed that their international flights are impacted by the closure, with longer routes expected for flights departing from Delhi and northern cities. Other airlines like Air India Express, SpiceJet and Akasa Air will also be affected by this change.

The closure of Pakistani airspace will affect flights to Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, and Qatar, as well as to Europe and the US. Owing to re-routing, flight time to destinations in Europe and the US may increase by 2 to 2.5 hours. For example, flights from India to Europe will have to travel approximately 900 km more.

According to sources in airlines, flight schedules are being worked on, and carriers could soon announce changes to their schedules. While it is still too early to assess the impact, the airlines’ costs are bound to rise, which could translate into higher airfares for passengers.

Airlines could even suspend flights to a few destinations like IndiGo’s flights to Almaty and Tashkent in which case it may not be financially and operationally feasible to circumvent the Pakistani airspace. IndiGo is the only Indian airline that currently flies to destinations in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey.

Pakistan had closed its airspace once earlier, in February 2019, after the Pulwama terror attack and subsequent air strikes by the Indian Air Force in Balakot. This had caused Indian airlines to lose nearly Rs 700 crore because of higher fuel expenses and operational complications.

Experts say the airspace closure will most significantly impact flights to Western countries departing from North Indian cities. Flights from Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Amritsar to destinations in the US, Europe and West Asia will be affected the most. These flights will need to be re-routed via Gujarat or Maharashtra over the Arabian Sea, increasing flight times by 70 to 80 minutes.

Source: Media Reports