Pak. airspace closure costs Air India dearly

Airline losing between ₹5-7 crore daily due to Middle-east detour

Karnataka Bengaluru 08 /03/2018 Pic for FILE 
 View of Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru .
(Kempegowda International Airport is an international airport serving Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Spread over 4,000 acres (1,600 ha), it is located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of the city near the village of Devanahalli. It is owned and operated by Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), a public–private consortium. The airport opened in May 2008 as an alternative to increased congestion at HAL Airport, the original primary commercial airport serving the city. It is named after Kempe Gowda the founder of Bangalore. Kempegowda International Airport became Karnataka's first fully solar powered airport developed by CleanMax Solar.
As of 2016, Kempegowda Airport is the third-busiest airport by passenger traffic in the country, behind the airports in Delhi, Mumbai and is the 35th-busiest airport in Asia. It handled over 22.2 million passengers with little less than 500 aircraft movements a day. The airport also handled about 314,060 tonnes (346,190 short tons) of cargo. By 2020, it is expected to handle at least 40 million passengers per year, with 45 international airlines and more than 1000 aircraft movements per day.
The airport consists of a single runway and passenger terminal, which handles both domestic and international operations. A second runway is being constructed and is expected to be operational by September 2019 while a second terminal is in the early stages of construction. In addition, there is a cargo village and three cargo terminals. The airport serves as a hub for AirAsia India, Alliance Air, Jet Airways and IndiGo and a focus city for Air India and SpiceJet )
Photo: Sampath Kumar G P

The closure of Pakistan airspace, which has been in place for more than a month, has cost Air India “ ₹5- 7 crore per day” as flights to the U.S. and Europe are forced to take a detour through the Middle East, said a senior official of the airline.

Air India serves five destinations in the U.S. and ten in Europe, which together account for nearly half of the airline’s 37 international destinations. The losses on these routes are a major setback for an airline for which international operations bring a fifth of the total profit.

The increase in costs is due to additional fuel use because of an increase in flight duration by two hours, along with a technical halt for U.S.-bound flights at Sharjah or Vienna.

Since the ban on the use of its airspace on February 27, Pakistan has allowed connectivity to all destinations barring India, Malaysia and Thailand. Meanwhile, Air India has cancelled flights to Vienna and Birmingham.

IndiGo, which had announced the launch of twice daily flights to Istanbul, has only started a daily flight as the long detour has impacted profitability and demand from passengers on the route.

Domestically, according to Aloke Bajpai, CEO and Co-Founder of travel booking website ixigo, “Sectors like Delhi and Mumbai were impacted the most due to cancellations and rescheduling of flights. Flights on an average were also extended by 2-3 hours due to Pakistan airspace closure.”

“While the flying hours have increased due to this restriction, the airlines have not spiked fares considerably,” Sharat Dhall, COO-B2C, Yatra.com, said.