With the advent of escalating US-Iran tensions, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked Indian airlines to steer clear of airspace around Iran, Iraq, Gulf of Oman and waters of the Persian Gulf.
This will cause the flying time between Indian and west Europe to increase by up to 40 minutes.
“In light of the tensions within the Iranian airspace, a decision to temporarily reroute flights of Air India and Air India Express overflying Iran has been taken,” says Dhananjay Kumar, Air India spokesperson. Indigo along with Air India will also reroute its flights that use Iranian airspace.
The advisory came after Ukraine International Airlines B737-800 crashed near Tehran. The aircraft was operating flight PS752 from Tehran to Kyiv when it disappeared from radar a few minutes after departure at 0610 local time.
Earlier, Iranian state media stated technical issues was the cause of the crash. But officials in both countries have now taken back their statements and are now refusing to speculate on the cause.
