Several Asian airlines have announced they were re-routing or cancelling flights to and from India and Pakistan, as the two neighbouring countries are racked by the deadliest exchange of fire in the last two decades.
Navigational data indicates that the airspace over northern India and southern Pakistan has been completely cleared. Pakistan’s entire airspace was nearly free of civilian aircraft, barring a few flights.
Sanad, Al Jazeera’s verification agency, monitored Indian military aircraft flying over northern India and a Pakistani government aircraft in the south of the country via air navigation tracking sites. This occurred just hours before the airspace was entirely cleared, coinciding with several flights diverting their routes from Pakistan.
According to FlightRadar24, which monitors flights worldwide, 52 flights to and from Pakistan were cancelled as of Wednesday morning.
There were 57 international flights operating in Pakistan’s airspace when India struck, according to a Pakistan army spokesperson.
At Karachi’s airport, only two international flights were reported so far after an eight-hour suspension due to heightened tensions.
Other domestic flights in both countries were also disrupted.
Air India cancelled flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Rajkot due to the closure of airports following the tensions with Pakistan.
India’s flagship carrier said flights would be suspended until at least May 10.
India has also shut down multiple airports in its northern region. Additionally, other airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air cancelled flights to 10 cities in northern and northwestern India near the border with Pakistan.
The changing airline schedules are set to further complicate operations in the Middle East and South Asia for carriers, who are already grappling with a fallout from conflicts in the two regions.
International carriers affected
According to local Malaysian outlet The Star, Malaysia’s flagship carrier Malaysian Airlines has cancelled flights to Amritsar, India, and rerouted two long-haul flights after the closure of Pakistan’s airspace.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Batik Air said it had cancelled several flights to and from Lahore, Pakistan, and India’s Amritsar.
A spokesperson for Dutch airline KLM said it was not flying over Pakistan until further notice. Singapore Airlines also announced that it had stopped flying over Pakistani airspace since May 6.
Taiwan’s EVA Air said it would adjust its flights to and from Europe to avoid airspace affected by the fighting between India and Pakistan.
Korean Air said it had begun rerouting its Seoul Incheon-Dubai flights on Wednesday, opting for a southern route that passes over Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India, instead of the previous path through Pakistani airspace.
Thai Airways said flights to destinations in Europe and South Asia would be rerouted starting early on Wednesday morning, while Vietnam Airlines said tensions between India and Pakistan had affected its flight plans.
Taiwan’s China Airlines said flights to and from destinations including London, Frankfurt and Rome had been disrupted, with some cancelled and others having to make technical stops in Bangkok and Prague to refuel and change crews, before taking longer flight paths.
Some flights from India to Europe were also seen taking longer routes.
Lufthansa flights from Delhi to Frankfurt turned right towards the Arabian Sea near the western Indian city of Surat, taking a longer path compared with Tuesday, according to FlightRadar24.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Airlines said its flights were unaffected and there is no change to their four weekly flights to Pakistan’s Lahore and Karachi.