The airline also suspended flights to London, Manchester, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. Indian airlines are ranking among the most severely impacted outside West Asia, with intensifying conflict and airspace shutdowns in the Middle East causing extensive flight cancellations and extended routes. Over 350 flights were canceled on Sunday amid rising congestion at airports managing rerouted traffic, according to individuals familiar with the situation, as reported by Bloomberg. Disruptions are set to persist through Monday, resulting in a third consecutive day of cancellations. Air India and IndiGo have canceled and rerouted international flights. Air India announced that flights to the US East Coast, including John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, will include technical stops in Rome. However, flights to Birmingham, Zurich, and Copenhagen were cancelled. IndiGo has suspended certain international flights routing through Middle Eastern airspace until March 2. The airline also suspended flights to London, Manchester, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. This strain is worsened by Indian airlines’ inability to use Pakistani airspace since mid-last year, after a short conflict. Rerouting over Iran added more than two and a half hours to flights heading to the US, but alternative paths avoiding the entire Middle East would take even longer, according to those cited earlier. This disadvantages Indian airlines relative to certain European and North American carriers, which still have restricted access through Turkey and Egypt. High exposure to Middle East routes.
