New Delhi: Commercial airlines such as Air India, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines on Wednesday announced they were re-routing their flights as neighbouring Pakistan closed its airspace in the wake of increasing hostilities with India.
Both inbound and outbound flights from USA and Europe for Delhi are being re-routed through Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Flights coming into India from USA and Europe are being re-routed via Dubai and Sharjah and will land into India with a delay, Air India tweeted on Wednesday evening.
The national carrier, however, maintained that no flights are cancelled and there will only be an increase in the flying time.
Pakistan on Wednesday shut its airspace for commercial flights and suspended flight operations across major airports including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, for an indefinite period as tension mounted with India.
Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority made the announcement after the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's media arm, acknowledged the closure of Pakistan's airspace due to the prevailing security situation.
In India, Jet Airways sought relaxation in flight duty and rest-hour norms for pilots and cabin crew from the country's aviation watchdog the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) due to the closure of the Pakistani airspace and subsequent re-routing of the Westbound flights.
The dispensation has been sought as the flights, which were earlier using Pakistani airspace, will now have to be operated over the sea, entailing longer flying hours than the regular routes, sources said. Due to the escalation of tension along the western border, the Pakistani airspace has been closed.
"In view of this, we have to reroute flights South of Pakistan FIR (flight information region) leading to increase in flight and flight duty times," Jet Airways Vice President for operations Floyd Gracious said in a communication to the airline pilots.
An FIR refers to specified airspace where flight information and alerting services are provided. Both pilots and cabin crew are governed by DGCA-mandated flight duty and time limitation (FDTL) norms, but a special dispensation allow the crew to do additional duties and night landings as well.
28/02/19 India Today
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Both inbound and outbound flights from USA and Europe for Delhi are being re-routed through Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Flights coming into India from USA and Europe are being re-routed via Dubai and Sharjah and will land into India with a delay, Air India tweeted on Wednesday evening.
The national carrier, however, maintained that no flights are cancelled and there will only be an increase in the flying time.
Pakistan on Wednesday shut its airspace for commercial flights and suspended flight operations across major airports including Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, for an indefinite period as tension mounted with India.
Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority made the announcement after the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, the military's media arm, acknowledged the closure of Pakistan's airspace due to the prevailing security situation.
In India, Jet Airways sought relaxation in flight duty and rest-hour norms for pilots and cabin crew from the country's aviation watchdog the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) due to the closure of the Pakistani airspace and subsequent re-routing of the Westbound flights.
The dispensation has been sought as the flights, which were earlier using Pakistani airspace, will now have to be operated over the sea, entailing longer flying hours than the regular routes, sources said. Due to the escalation of tension along the western border, the Pakistani airspace has been closed.
"In view of this, we have to reroute flights South of Pakistan FIR (flight information region) leading to increase in flight and flight duty times," Jet Airways Vice President for operations Floyd Gracious said in a communication to the airline pilots.
An FIR refers to specified airspace where flight information and alerting services are provided. Both pilots and cabin crew are governed by DGCA-mandated flight duty and time limitation (FDTL) norms, but a special dispensation allow the crew to do additional duties and night landings as well.
28/02/19 India Today
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