Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian flights for a month on April 24 due to tensions between the two countries following the Pahalgam attack.
Indian airlines have suffered losses of more than Rs8 Billion in a month due to the closure of Pakistani airspace, but now it has been decided to maintain the ban further, an announcement is expected today or tomorrow, after which a NOTAM will be issued.
Since ban is going to remain in place, if the Indian government does not provide any special assistance as per the airlines demands, they may have to make extraordinary and major decisions to maintain operations.
According to sources, Indian airlines have already suffered a setback of approximately Rs5 Billion in fuel alone, while the cost of the 30-day stopover has been estimated at Rs3 billion. According to experts, a Boeing 777 aircraft uses 6,668 kilograms of fuel in 1 hour and an Airbus A319, 320 or 321 aircraft uses an average of 2,400 kilograms of fuel in 1 hour. The average price index of one kilogram of jet fuel is $82 and the current price of 6,668 kilograms of jet fuel in India is $5,467. An additional 75 hours of daily flights of Boeing 777 or 787 aircraft costs an additional $410,000 in fuel alone. Similarly, the additional fuel for an hour of flight of an Airbus A319, 320 or 321 aircraft costs $1,968 and the fuel cost for 75 hours of daily flights is $5,467. Additional costs of $147,000 are incurred.
Indian airline flights are having to travel for an additional 2 to 4 hours, but here the calculation is for 150 hours. For 75 Boeing and 75 Airbus aircraft traveling from India to the US, Canada, Europe, the UK or other countries, an additional 2 hours of travel per day has had to burn an additional fuel of 557,625 dollars. The additional fuel costs of Air India and other Indian airlines alone amount to 500 crore Pakistani rupees. The crew of Indian flights on long routes are having to change at transit airports due to duty time duration, along with having to pay millions of dollars daily in terms of landing twice, refueling and airport charges, the cost of which for 30 days has been estimated at 250 to 300 crore rupees.
The closure has affected Air India the most, and it has requested assistance from the government. In addition, flights of Akasa Air, SpiceJet, Indigo Air, and Air India Express have also been partially affected by the closure of Pakistani airspace.
Flights from Amritsar, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Jaipur have to travel almost all over India and cross the Arabian Sea. According to sources, if this ban continues, Indian airlines may face significant increases in fares and decisions to change routes.
