IndiGo flight faces airspace curb woes
A Manchester-bound IndiGo flight, operated with a leased Boeing 787 aircraft, returned to the national capital on Monday due to certain restrictions when the plane was to enter the Eritrea airspace. Also, an IndiGo flight from London Heathrow to Mumbai was diverted to Cairo following issues related to entering Eritrea airspace, sources added.
The flight to Manchester was airborne for more than six hours before it decided to turn back. By the time it landed in the national capital, the flight had been in the air for over 12 hours. It had taken off from Delhi at around 12.40 am and landed back in the national capital at about 2.30 pm on Monday, as per information available with flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
"Our flight 6E 033 operating from Delhi to Manchester had to return to its origin due to last-minute airspace restrictions, owing to the ongoing situation in West Asia. We are working with the relevant authorities to explore the possibilities of resuming the journey," IndiGo said in a statement.
The sources said that there were some approval issues with Eritrean authorities, and after a risk assessment, it was decided that the flight would return to Delhi. Eritrea is an African country.
Meanwhile, flight 6E2 from London Heathrow to Mumbai was diverted to Cairo (Egypt) due to the approval issues with the Eritrean authorities, the sources said.
The flight, operated with a leased Boeing 787 plane, was airborne for nearly six hours before the decision was taken to divert to Cairo.
Overall, the flight was airborne for more than eight hours before landing at Cairo, as per information from Flightradar24.com.
One of the sources said the airline would not be operating the flight from Cairo to Mumbai on Monday as the crew had exhausted flight duty time. The airline is working to arrange visas and hotel accommodation for passengers, and the flight is expected to fly to Mumbai on Tuesday, the source added.
There was no immediate statement from the airline on the 6E2 flight.
IndiGo is operating its flights to European cities and London, except for Athens, with Boeing 787-9 planes leased from Norway’s Norse Atlantic Airways.
In the wake of the Middle East conflict, regulator EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) has barred aircraft, including those of Norse Atlantic, registered with it from using certain airspaces in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
As a result, IndiGo is now taking the longer flight route through Africa to enter Europe.
For the European flights, the airline flies over the Arabian Sea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Red Sea and Egypt before entering Europe.
Meanwhile, the flights to Athens are operated with IndiGo’s A321 XLR planes.
Generally, Indian carriers use the airspaces in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, to operate flights to Europe. IndiGo, in the statement, also said that due to the evolving situation in and around the Middle East, some of its flights may take longer routes or experience diversions.
