Air India suffers 3 billion losses as Pakistan's airspace closes

Air India has suffered losses of about 3 billion rupees (300 crores of rupees) since the end of February, while its long-haul flights from New Delhi take more time to travel to Europe, in the Gulf. and the United States due to the closure of Pakistan's airspace.

The Pakistani the airspace remained closed to the traffic to and from India since the beginning of hostilities between the two countries after the Pulwama suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir on 14 February.

With airplanes on duty from New Delhi, which spends more time in the air, Air India suffers a daily loss of Rs. 6 billion in the event of additional fuel consumption, cabin crew costs and reduced fuel consumption. flights.

The national airline has contacted the Ministry of Civil Aviation to ensure that it is compensated for the loss suffered, as the airline can not withdraw these flights due to various obligations.

"Air India has informed us about this and is in discussion with everyone involved," said a ministry official.

Air India flights between Delhi and the United States now take an additional 2 to 3 hours per trip due to restrictions on Pakistan's airspace. Flights to Europe take almost two hours longer, resulting in financial losses.

The closure of the airspace as a result of an air attack by the Indian Air Force on the terrorist camp Jaish-e-Mohamnad (JeM) in Balakot, Pakistan, on February 27, affected most of the airlines of Europe and the United States operating flights to and from New Delhi.

Almost all air traffic from Southeast Asia to Europe was also affected, as they would cross northern India to Pakistan.

US company United has temporarily suspended its Delhi-Newark flight and is monitoring the situation.

German airline Lufthansa said earlier that the connections to Bangkok and Singapore would also be affected in addition to operations in India.

"We are already preparing adjusted routes and will increase the amount of extra fuel in case of delay.Some traffic rights for the new route also need to be secured," said the airline about the closure of the airspace Pakistani.

An Air India official said the airline was carrying out major operations in Europe and North America and that the hijacking of flights due to the closure of the Pakistani airspace was up to the end of the year. here caused a total loss of about 3 billion rupees.

"Losses due to payload limitation and cancellation alone amount to about Rs 2.75 billion per day." The longer flight duration affected the hours of work of the cabin crew and cabin crew. pilots, "he said.

"Other airlines have the opportunity to withdraw services in such situations, but as a national carrier, we can not do it," added the manager.

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