New Delhi: Tata-owned Air India has started avoiding Iranian airspace amid soaring tensions in Middle East after Iran blamed Israel for bombing the formers embassy in Syria and voted to take revenge. Sources told ETV Bharat that "looking at this situation, Air India will be avoiding Iranian airspace."
According to the flight tracking website Flightradar 24, a London-bound Air India flight took longer route to avoid Iranian airspace this morning. While, Air India operated it's Delhi-Tel Aviv flight on Saturday but in the coming days, it is being expected that these routes will be watched closely by the airline.
When the war between Israel and Palestine began after the attacks from Hamas on October 7 2023, Air India had suspended the Delhi-Tel Aviv flight. It resumed the same on March 3, 2024, after a gap of almost five months.
The geopolitical turbulence often disrupts the aviation industry and leads to cancellations or avoiding of particular air space. Ever since the fall of the Afghanistan government and the rise of Taliban back in 2021, commercial airlines since then avoid the now called Islamic Emirate.
Similarly, American carriers avoid Iran due to the deep tensions between the two while since Russia invaded Ukraine, several of the Western countries have made no overflying zones over the two countries.
Meanwhile, a Vistara spokesperson said the airline is making changes to flight-paths of some of their flights. "Due to the current situation affecting parts of the Middle East, we are making changes to flight-paths of some of our flights. Contingency routes, which are kept available to ensure operational continuity during such eventualities, are being used instead. This may result in longer flight times on certain routes and associated delays. The situation is being monitored closely and further changes will be made if required,” the Vistara spokesperson told ETV Bharat.
