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NEW DELHI: With the Iran crisis simmering, IndiGo on Sunday cancelled its Delhi-Tbilisi and Mumbai-Almaty flights. The airline has added fuelling halts on some CIS flights. Air India, which had been overflying the safer eastern parts of Iran on its flights to and from North America, will now examine the situation once the same resume after the snowstorm on the east coast in a day or so.“In view of the recent developments around Iran, we are making certain proactive changes to our flight schedules as part of our continued focus on safety. IndiGo flights scheduled to operate on Jan from Delhi to Tbilisi and from Mumbai to Almaty and return have been cancelled…. IndiGo flights scheduled to operate on Jan 26 to and from Tbilisi, Almaty, Baku and Tashkent may take a brief halt, for refuelling, at Doha,” IndiGo said on X Sunday.Air India flights to and from Europe had stopped overflying Iran after a Jan 16 advisory from European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). “Given the ongoing situation and the potential for US military action, which has placed Iranian air defence forces on a heightened state of alert, there is currently an increased likelihood of misidentification within (Iranian airspace). The presence and possible use of a wide range of weapons and air-defence systems, combined with unpredictable state responses and the potential activation of SAM systems, creates a high risk to civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels…. Air operators should not operate within the airspace of Iran at all altitudes and flight levels,” EASA advisory had said.AI has since then not been overflying Iran on flights to and from Europe as the advisory is for “third country operators authorised by EASA, when conducting operations to, from and within the EU.” AI and many other airlines are overflying Iraq. Once East Coast flights resume, AI will take a call based on the situation that time regarding overflying the safer eastern part of Iran.The situation is dynamic and airlines are taking decisions in real time, very frequently changing course of their enroute flights in troubled West Asia
