Air India (AI, Delhi International) has resumed non-stop flights on some of its North American routes from Delhi International and Mumbai International, skipping the costly and logistically challenging stops in Europe, ch-aviation analysis has revealed. The adjustments are necessary due to the ongoing closure of Pakistani airspace for the carrier.
ch-aviation analysis of ADS-B data shows the airline also restored non-stop services from Delhi (on May 12) and Mumbai (on May 4) to New York JFK and New York Newark, dropping the fuel stop at Vienna. Flights from Delhi, operated with A350-900s, now take well over 15 hours, around two hours more than they did when the carrier could cross Pakistan. Services from Mumbai are operated with B777-300ERs.
Flights from Delhi to Chicago O'Hare, Toronto Pearson, and Washington Dulles continue via Vienna.
Services to west coast destinations (San Francisco and Vancouver International) were less affected, and outbound legs, operated over the Pacific, have remained non-stop since Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian airlines. However, Air India has operated some return flights from those destinations via Vienna. The Press Trust of India reported that the airline recently began crossing Mongolian airspace, which, combined with the possibility of adding a fuel stop at Kolkata, allowed it to restart non-stop services also on the return leg.
Air India's flights to Europe and the east coast of North America are particularly badly affected as the carrier is unable to cross either Pakistan (due to the geopolitical restrictions) or the Tibetan Plateau (due to operational restrictions on overflights from the high altitude).
The airline previously pinned the cost of the detours at INR50 billion rupees (USD590 million) per year due to increased fuel consumption and crew costs.
