Pakistan airspace closure: Airlines give rough estimates of ₹7,000 crore potential loss per year
The rough estimates include the effects of higher expenses incurred on rerouting of flights, operations of technical stops, and other associated arrangements over a period of one year
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DEEPAK KR
India’s airline industry might face a consolidated loss of approximately ₹7,000 crore (indicative figure), or around $800 million, due to higher costs incurred on account of Pakistan’s closure of its airspace, industry sources told businessline.
According to industry sources, the rough estimates include the effects of higher expenses incurred on rerouting of flights, operations of technical stops, and other associated arrangements over a period of one year.
Of the ₹7,000-crore impact, Air India group’s provisional estimate is around ₹5,000 crore, whereas the same for IndiGo is ₹1,300 crore, followed by other airlines.
Industry sources said that these estimated figures were submitted by the airlines after the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had sought financial impact reports from them on an individual basis.
These reports, sources said, present only indicative figures on a per-year basis and will be reconciled with another set of estimates, which will be called on a later date.
“Only after reconciliation of all the figures, which will be taken in due course of time, will the overall impact be known. These figures are just rough estimates until the entire process is over,” sources said.
Air India takes the biggest hit
“Air India’s revenues will be drastically hit due to the airspace closure,” sources told businessline.
Revenue-wise, Air India generates nearly 60 per cent of cash flows from the international sector.
Among India’s airlines, Air India operates the longest routes and has a much bigger scale of operations, including 70 flights a week to seven stations in North America, of which 58 are from Delhi.
It is currently operating its North America flights with technical stops at Vienna and Copenhagen.
Overall, the airline only possesses the capacity to operate nonstop direct flights from India to the US and Canada via its fleet of Boeing 777s and Airbus A350 aircraft.
IndiGo’s share
In the case of IndiGo, sources cited that flights from North Indian cities to the Gulf as well as to the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries have been impacted.
“They (IndiGo) are well spread out in terms of international networks; besides, the multi-city hub policy should play a part in mitigating their losses,” sources said.
Earlier, the airline had said in a statement that due to the closure of Pakistan’s airspace, “circa 50 international routes operated by it will require longer sectors and hence may be subject to some slight schedule adjustments.”
“With the same restrictions and limited rerouting options, unfortunately Almaty and Tashkent are outside the operational range of IndiGo’s current fleet. Hence, flights to Almaty stand cancelled from the 27th of April until at least the 7th of May and to Tashkent from the 28th of April until the 7th of May, 2025,” the airline had stated.
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Published on May 6, 2025
