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400 flights affected daily due to Pakistani airspace closure, Air India worst-hit

Mar 17 (AZINS) Eighteen days after the closure of its airspace following Indian airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan is yet to allow all flights to cross its borders.

Pakistan had shut down all of its airports and had completely closed its airspace following the airstrikes for five days and has now partially opened its airspace. It is, however, only allowing flights bound for its own cities and has not given permission to airlines to use its airspace to cross over to another country.

According to data from international flight tracker Flightradar24.com, around 400 flights are affected daily and Air India is the worst-hit of the airlines due to this, The Print reported.

The public carrier operates 33 flights a week to the US and 66 to Europe, most of which have had to be diverted or cancelled, the report said.

Air India spokesperson Praveen Bhatnagar confirmed that "flight timings have been increased by over three hours”.

Both the diversion in routes and cancellation of flights has hit Air India's revenue.

A Business Standard report last week estimated that Air India was losing Rs 3 crore every day.

While Bhatnagar confirmed that the company is losing revenue due to this he said the loss has not been calculated.

“We are definitely undergoing a loss in this situation, but we haven’t calculated how much we have lost financially since 27 February," he said.

Pakistan closed its airspace after Indian Air Force’s strikes on a JeM terrorist camp in Balakot following a terror attack claimed by the terror outfit that killed 40 jawans in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir last month.

Air India suspends flights to and from Birmingham

Air India in the UK confirmed on Friday that it would be suspending all flights to and from Birmingham Airport from Saturday due to "extraordinary circumstances" involving the closure of Pakistan's airspace.

The Indian national carrier said that its daily flights to India from London Heathrow remain unaffected as the New Delhi and Amritsar services in and out of Birmingham will be grounded until further updates.

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

"In fact, besides Birmingham, many other flights in our network have been cancelled, combined or being operated with restricted payload, to reduce the impact on passenger travel to the minimum, he said.

Air India flies six times a week from Birmingham Airport three times direct to Delhi and three times direct to Amritsar.

The airport expressed its disappointment at the suspension of AI113 Delhi-Birmingham, AI114 Birmingham-Delhi, AI117 Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham, and AI118 Birmingham-Amritsar-Delhi and said it was working with the airline to restore the schedule.

"The airport is very understanding of the current situation which means that Pakistan airspace cannot be overflown and the operational impact that this is having on Air India, a Birmingham Airport spokesperson said.

"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.

Among the other routes affected by Friday's announcement include Air India's Delhi-Madrid and Madrid-Delhi flights.

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