NEW DELHI: The increased flying time for Air India nonstop between Delhi and UK and Delhi and North America since Afghan airspace closed on August 16 is going to reduce significantly with the airline deciding to fly over the mighty Hindu Kush range for the first time. This new routing will see Boeing 777s and 787s soaring over Tirich Mir (7,780 metres), the world’s highest peak outside the Himalaya-Karakoram range.
Since mid-August, nonstop flights on these routes, including PM Narendra Modi’s recent US journey on India One, have taken the longer route via south Pakistan below Afghanistan and then via Iran-Turkey instead of the shorter Pakistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan route.
