West Asian airspace closed; Indian airlines cancel flights

West Asian airspace closed; Indian airlines cancel flights

DGCA issues advisory to avoid 11 countries until tomorrow; airports across India put on operational alert to manage potential flight diversions, unscheduled landings and passenger facilitation

With tensions escalating across West Asia on Saturday, large swathes of the airspace in the region became a no-go zone, forcing global and Indian airlines to cancel flights to the region and reroute several others to avoid the affected corridors on Saturday.

India’s aviation safety regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), issued an urgent safety advisory valid until Monday for all airlines to avoid 11 countries in the region — Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

The U.S. and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on Saturday, while it retaliated by firing missiles and drones toward Israel and U.S. military bases in the region.

The Air India Group, which also includes its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express, as well as IndiGo announced they were cancelling all their flights to West Asia until midnight on March 1.

Iran and Israel closed their airspace at the start of the day, with other countries in the region, including Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Iraq, Oman and Syria, quickly following suit. A time-lapse from FlightRadar24 initially showed an empty corridor of airspace between Iran and Israel, which gradually expanded as more countries across the region imposed restrictions.

Passengers stranded

Major international hub airports in the region, including Dubai and Doha, were also shut, leaving thousands of passengers stranded as flights turned back mid-air or were cancelled.

The Air India Group suspended flights to Dammam, Sharjah, Riyadh, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Muscat, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, Sharjah, Bahrain, and Kuwait City. Akasa Air said it was suspending all its flights to Abu Dhabi, Doha and Jeddah.

Air India’s Delhi-Tel Aviv flight was forced to turn back early, while its Chicago-Delhi service took a longer routing to steer even farther clear of Iranian airspace, which it had already been avoiding.

Air India Express, which operates a large number of Gulf-bound services, cancelled around 110 flights to the region. Five of its aircraft remain stranded there, including one deployed on the Sharjah-Indore route.

Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu and Civil Aviation Secretary S.K. Sinha held a review meeting to assess the impact on flight operations and passenger security.

“Airports across the country, particularly major international gateways, have been placed on operational alert to manage potential flight diversions, unscheduled landings and passenger facilitation requirements. The Airports Authority of India and private airport operators have been advised to maintain enhanced coordination with airlines for ground handling, parking bays, passenger amenities, crew logistics and immigration support, as necessary,” a statement said.