Passengers seated to the (right or left) can see the pyramids of Giza.” Fatigued pilots of Air India operating flights to and from the West now often make this announcement on clear visibility days while overflying Egypt on the excruciatingly longer routes imposed by the US-Israel war against Iran.Since Feb 28, going west — except to the west coast of North America — from India means overflying Arabian Sea while steering clear of Pakistan (for Indian carriers) and Iranian airspace (for all); then turning right from over Oman en route to Muscat, Saudi Arabia or beyond, via Cairo, to Europe, UK and North America.
It’s the same route on the way back.
The war-zone air traffic corridor covering the airspaces of Afghanistan (starting with Pakistan for Indian carriers), Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel bears a deserted look with almost all planes flying below this passage.
The usable corridors in the region, like parts of Saudi Arabia, are seeing the war affect them, too.The impact: Air India Delhi-London non-stop flying time has increased 50% from about eight hours — when both Pakistan (for Indian carriers) and Afghanistan airspace used to be open — to over 12 hours now after the Iran war.
Its Mumbai-New York 13-14-hour non-stop has become a onestop via Rome with the travel time close to 21 hours now.
IndiGo uses wide body aircraft of Norway’s Norse Atlantic airline, which completely bypass West Asia per the EU regulator’s advice.
They fly over the Arabian Sea right up to Africa, and then turn right to fly north to Cairo and beyond.
Same route on return for all.Since Feb 28, the Iran war has led to passengers facing a sharp rise in airfares and drastic fall in travel options with the Big Three — Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad — out of the picture for now.
Airlines have seen their operating costs skyrocket, fewer lucrative Gulf flights, and fatigued pilots at the controls of their widebody aircraft.
Here’s how it is impacting different stakeholders: Indian operatorsShrunk Network: They used to have between 400 and 500 daily flights between India and the West, a number that has sharply fallen since Feb 28 due to the closure of airports in Bahrain and Doha, even as those in UAE stay sporadically open and offer slots.
Only a few places, like parts of Saudi, and Muscat, have regular flights and overflying these days in the region.Half of IndiGo’s 300 daily international flights were to the West and that has shrunk to a handful now.
Air India Express had 110 daily West Asia connections, which is now down to 50 “ad hoc” connections.
Air India had 254 scheduled weekly West Asia flights and that’s dropped to 30-40.
Akasa and SpiceJet have also seen a reduction in their Gulf flights.Escalating operating costs: Since the Iran war began, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices have effectively risen every time the rupee hits a new low, which is a daily feature now.
It currently costs about $817 per kilo litre (kL) in both Delhi and Mumbai — up from about $779 last month.
But the INR-to-USD exchange rate has gone from Rs 91 to Rs 93.30.
So have all dollar-denominated costs — like lease rentals and maintenance — escalated.To top it all, routes have got much longer, which means burning much more of that costly fuel.
A Boeing 787 burns about five tonnes of fuel every hour and a B777 about 7.5 tonnes.
If flying time goes up by two hours, there’s an extra 10-15 tonnes burnt per flight.
At $817 per tonne for international flights of domestic carriers, and the rupee at 93.30 to a dollar, the extra expense on fuel alone works out to Rs 80,000 per hour.
Air India has 358 weekly flights to the West — covering Europe, UK and North America — which are still operating.Indian operators upload much more fuel than usual from India these days so that aircraft can return home with passengers — instead of getting stuck — in case of escalated fighting in West Asia.
