Visakhapatnam: Those planning to fly to places in Europe including Berlin, London, Amsterdam or Paris and even to USA or Canada might have to shell out a few extra bucks on airfare owing to the directive against using Iranian airspace to Indian Airlines.
The DGCA’s (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) notice (Notam— notice to airmen) to Indian airlines against using Iranian airspace would force the airlines to take new routes to reach their destinations. These routes being longer than the traditional ones would increase the cost of travel. The airlines in turn would have to increase airfare.
According to aviation experts, the shortest route to fly to north-western parts of the world was over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman on the Iranian airspace. With this notice, flights will have to use the Saudi Arabian airspace. Flights operating from southern India are expected to be affected by this.
“This would increase the flying time by at least 25 minutes depending on congestion as most flights would now take this route. An additional flying time of 25 minutes will have an immense effect on operational costs,” said Sumanta Roy Choudhury, a veteran pilot.
The notice to fly in the Iranian airspace comes after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard shot down a US-owned military drone flying over its airspace. As tensions escalated, the DGCA in consultation with the Indian Airlines decided to restrict Indian carriers flying through the Iranian airspace.
Airlines of a few other countries too have decided against using the Iranian airspace for the time being.
26/06/19 Arpit Basu/Times of India
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The DGCA’s (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) notice (Notam— notice to airmen) to Indian airlines against using Iranian airspace would force the airlines to take new routes to reach their destinations. These routes being longer than the traditional ones would increase the cost of travel. The airlines in turn would have to increase airfare.
According to aviation experts, the shortest route to fly to north-western parts of the world was over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman on the Iranian airspace. With this notice, flights will have to use the Saudi Arabian airspace. Flights operating from southern India are expected to be affected by this.
“This would increase the flying time by at least 25 minutes depending on congestion as most flights would now take this route. An additional flying time of 25 minutes will have an immense effect on operational costs,” said Sumanta Roy Choudhury, a veteran pilot.
The notice to fly in the Iranian airspace comes after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard shot down a US-owned military drone flying over its airspace. As tensions escalated, the DGCA in consultation with the Indian Airlines decided to restrict Indian carriers flying through the Iranian airspace.
Airlines of a few other countries too have decided against using the Iranian airspace for the time being.
26/06/19 Arpit Basu/Times of India
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