Closure of Afghan airspace not likely to affect Qatar-India flights

Flights to and from Qatar may not be impacted because of Indian Director General of Civil Aviation’s advisory to carriers using Afghan airspace to look for alternative routes. Afghanistan’s new rulers have already shut their airspace for civilian aircraft. But, according to prominent Indian aviation analyst Ashwini Phadnis, the closure of Afghanistan airspace “would have no impact” on flights from Doha to Delhi and Mumbai or other Indian destinations.

“From Delhi, aircraft fly over Bikaner and then into Karachi airspace before entering Iranian airspace. And from around Bandar Abbas, aircraft enters the Arabian Gulf into Doha. In the case of flights from Mumbai, the aircraft head out over the Arabian Sea, enter Oman airspace and then UAE airspace before reaching the Arabain Gulf and eventually Doha,” Phadnis told Gulf Times yesterday.

Similarly, flights to and from Qatar to south Indian cities such as Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Chennai, Bengaluru, Mangalore, Hyderabad as well as Goa in western India will not be affected due to the new development vis-a-vis the Afghan airspace.

Besides Qatar Airways, Indian carriers such as Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Go First and Vistara fly between Qatar and various Indian cities.

The Qatar-India route is among the busiest in the region. According to Phadnis, flights from India to Europe or the US, however, would be affected because of the closure of the Afghan airspace. “The closure of Afghan airspace and resultant diversion will add anything between 45 minutes and 75 minutes of flying time from India to Europe,” Phadnis wrote in MoneyControl.

Flights from India to the Middle East and onwards to Europe, the US and Canada will now have to be re-routed over Karachi or Lahore in Pakistan and then to Iran or the Arabian Gulf. Earlier, the flights would fly from India to Pakistan and then Afghanistan to continue their onwards journey, Phadnis said.

Afghanistan's aviation authority said yesterday the country's airspace had been "released to the military" and advised airlines to avoid its air corridors, prompting major airlines to divert flights in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul. In a notice to pilots on its website, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) said any transit through Kabul airspace -- which covers all Afghanistan -- would be uncontrolled, meaning planes would no longer be guided from the ground.

"Kabul airspace has been released to the military. Advise transit aircraft to reroute," Reuters said quoting ACAA. "Any transit through Kabul airspace will be uncontrolled. Surrounding FIRs (air traffic control regions) have been advised."