Air India Flights To Birmingham And Madrid Affected Due To Pakistan Airspace Closure

The Pakistan airspace has been closed since February 27 when India conducted ¡®pre-emptive¡¯, ¡®non-military¡¯ strikes on Pakistan¡¯s terror camps in Balakot. The strike was conducted on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps which took responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama attack.

However, due to the closure many flights from India have to be suspended until alternative routes are discovered. Air India in the UK confirmed on Friday that it would suspend all flights to and from Birmingham Airport from Saturday due to "extraordinary circumstances" involving the closure of Pakistan's airspace.

The airline said that it will continue to operate daily flights to India from Heathrow airport in London. Only the New Delhi and Amritsar services in and out of Birmingham will be grounded until further updates.

#FlyAI : Important Update for our valued passengers. pic.twitter.com/NYHAAeIm3W

¡ª Air India (@airindiain) March 13, 2019

Debashis Golder, Regional Manager-UK and Europe told PTI, "The flight cancellation is due to extraordinary circumstances, namely closure of Pakistan airspace and resultant impact which is beyond the control of Air India.¡±

Flights to and from Madrid have also been suspended to reduce impact on passenger travel to the minimum. Air India flies six times a week from Birmingham Airport ¨C three times direct to Delhi and three times direct to Amritsar.

An airport spokesperson from Birmingham said that the airport was very understanding of the current situation and the operational impact it had on Air India flights. "Passengers that are already booked on Air India flights from Birmingham will be contacted by the airline to re-book or to gain a refund. We are working closely with Air India to restore these flights to Birmingham Airport's schedule as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

Photo: BCCL

Also, Air India on Friday requested all its ¡®inactive¡¯ crew members to join work immediately as the airline has been forced to re-route many Europe and U.S bound flights. All the AI crew members who are on any kind of leave be it casual, medical or privilege have been asked to return for duty.

Due to the closure of the Pakistan air space, the airline¡¯s operational costs have increased tremendously due to longer routes. For instance, the Delhi-Washington and Delhi-Chicago flights of the national carrier are currently making a stop at Mumbai and Vienna for refuelling and change of crew, PTI reported.

#FlyAI : Important #passenger #Update pic.twitter.com/MHEe8JApPv

¡ª Air India (@airindiain) March 14, 2019

On Thursday, it even announced that Mumbai-New York flight has been combined with Mumbai to Newark flight from March 16 to May 31.

Executive Director of Air India Madhu Mathen in a letter said that due to cancellations and rescheduling passengers were facing a lot of hardship and that all crew members should support the airline by making themselves available for duty.

Also, IndiGo which became the first Indian airline to fly to Turkey and Istanbul will have to make a stopover at Doha if the Pakistan airspace doesn¡¯t open by March 20. On January 25, IndiGo, India's largest carrier in terms of domestic market share, announced it would operate daily non-stop planes between Delhi and Istanbul from March 20, with A321 aircraft.