Pakistan’s closure of its airspace to Indian airlines Thursday is forcing carriers to change some routes that link India to Europe, North America, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Indian carriers — including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet — must now fly longer, and thus costlier, flights on some westbound routes. The detour could push some flights so as to add a refueling stop or cancel certain routes altogether.
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by market share, said it expects a number of international flights to be affected, while Air India said a few of its flights to or from North America, Europe and the Middle East will take an alternate prolonged route. Â Each statements were made last week on the social media platform X.
Air India didn’t reply to CNBC’s query regarding the variety of routes affected. Indigo has stated that around 50 routes could also be impacted, while flights to Almaty, Kazakhstan and Tashkent, Uzbekistan have been temporarily suspended.
The airspace closure comes amid tit-for-tat reactions from the nuclear-armed neighbors, following the killing of 26 tourists within the scenic town of Pahalgam within the northwestern India-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir.
India has linked the massacre to Pakistani militants, which Pakistan denies. Pakistan has called for a “neutral” probe into the incident that has reignited tensions over the long-disputed territory claimed by each countries.
Recent routes and refueling stops
Air India flight A1101 from Recent Delhi to Recent York on Saturday stopped in Copenhagen to refuel, in line with the worldwide flight tracking service FlightRadar24. The flight, which is often non-stop, arrived nearly six hours after its normal arrival time, in line with its website. Â
The identical flight on Friday diverted to Vienna, arriving some 4 hours behind schedule, in line with FlightRadar24.
Pakistan’s restrictions might also make it harder for Indian carriers to compete with other airlines, which may proceed to fly over Pakistan.
Indian airlines operate the majority of international flights within the country, with greater than 9,000 international departures scheduled this month, in line with the aviation analytics company Cirium.
Of those, Air India is scheduled to fly 519 flights to Europe, and 309 to North America, Cirium data showed.
Nonetheless, the airline “can overfly Russia to achieve North America” on some flights, a Cirium representative told CNBC Travel.
Many flights that link northern Indian cities to the Middle East fly directly over Pakistan – a key region for Indian employees and leisure travelers.
Half (49.3%) of outbound travel from India in 2023 was to the Middle East, in line with the 2024 India Tourism Data Compendium.
The United Arab Emirates is the preferred destination, attracting some 7.2 million Indian nationals — of which 50% are Indian migrant employees, 41% are made up of leisure and recreational travelers, while the remaining 9% are business travelers, in line with India’s tourism data.
Higher prices?
Indian carriers can pay a price, but passengers may not see airfares go up by much due to Pakistan’s airspace closure, said John Grant, chief analyst on the aviation intelligence company OAG.
“It’s symbolic greater than anything majorly disruptive for India’s airlines,” he said. “These kind of things on their very own are unlikely to guide to a rise in airfares.”
A five-month closure of Pakistan’s airspace to Indian carriers in 2019 cost the airlines around 7 billion Indian rupees ($82 million), in line with local media.
Airfares on not less than one route, nonetheless, have already dropped. April is usually the costliest month to fly from Recent Delhi to Srinagar — the most important city in Jammu and Kashmir — with average prices starting from $175 to $255, in line with Google Flights.
Next week, flights to town, home to around 1.2 million people, are selling for $150, the web site showed. Â
An Indian paramilitary serviceman keeps watch in Pahalgam, south of Srinagar, on April 23, 2025, following an attack that killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Tauseef Mustafa | Afp | Getty Images
Air India and Indigo, in separate posts on X last week, stated they’d refund or reschedule bookings to Srinagar through May 7, amid mass cancellations of travel bookings to the realm.
Each airlines added flights to Srinagar to accommodate travelers rushing to depart the region within the aftermath of last week’s massacre. Â
Tourism in Kashmir, renowned for beautiful snow-topped mountains and picturesque valleys, has witnessed unprecedented growth over the previous few years, said Muheet Ul Islam, a journalist and filmmaker who lives within the region.
He said that because the industry grew and investments increased, people from other professions left their jobs to hitch the sector.
But now, “there may be a pin-drop silence within the region,” he said.
“I spoke to a number of tourists who said that they may not return to Kashmir Valley — ever.”
