Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Major Indian airlines Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet on January 15 informed of rerouting some of their international flights as Iran shut down its airspace. Iran, which is facing widespread protests against its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei amid growing tensions with the US, had ordered the closure of its airspace to commercial aircraft without any explanation.
As a result, Air India had to cancel its early morning flights, such as Delhi-New York JFK (AI 101), Delhi-Newark (AI 105), and Mumbai-JFK (AI 119). The return flights were also cancelled.
IndiGo’s Baku-Delhi flight, slated for early morning, had to return to the Azerbaijan capital within an hour as it was to overfly Iran after crossing the Caspian Sea.
“Due to the emerging situation in Iran, the subsequent closure of its airspace, and in view of the safety of our passengers, Air India flights overflying the region are now using an alternative routing, which may lead to delays,” Air India shared in a post on the social media platform X.
The company noted that it is cancelling flights “where currently rerouting is not possible”. “Due to the sudden airspace closure by Iran, some of our international flights are impacted. Our teams are working diligently to assess the situation and support affected customers by offering the best possible alternatives,” added IndiGo.