NEW DELHI: The closure of Pakistan airspace for overflying since February 27 has now cast its shadow on the longest route so far to be operated by an Indian low cost carrier — IndiGo’s Delhi-Istanbul nonstop that is to start from next Wednesday (March 20). It will be a one-stop flight via Doha as IndiGo’s Airbus A321 NEO will take the longer route to and from the west to avoid Pakistan airspace. Pakistan is constantly postponing reopening of its airspace and its latest notice to airmen (Notam) says that is to happen on Monday (March 18) at 3.30 pm (Indian time).
“Our Delhi-Istanbul-Delhi flight will be via Doha if the Pakistan airspace does not open by when we start them,” said a senior official. The flight to Delhi-Istanbul and return nonstop was supposed to be about 7 and 6 hours, respectively. The longer route via Doha will increase flying time by about three hours due to first flying beyond Ahmedabad and then turning over the Arabian Ocean from there on way to Doha, followed by the stopover in Qatar.
