Amid longer flight durations triggered by Pakistan’s airspace closure, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday issued a detailed advisory directing
airlines to take better care of passengers as international flights are now taking longer and inform passengers at check-in time about rerouting, longer flying time and the possibility of an enroute halt for refuelling the aircraft and crew change.
“Passengers will generally remain onboard such stops,” says the advisory issued by DGCA CFO Captain Shweta Singh. “Airlines must ensure that catering uplift is revised based on actual travel time (including technical halt). This includes: adequate meals and beverages for the full duration, additional hydration and dry snacks and special meals as per requests.”
Pakistan has shut its airspace for Indian airlines. Because of this, many international flights, especially those leaving from north Indian cities like Delhi, are being forced to take longer routes. This is causing delays and longer flying hours.
The advisory focuses on five main areas — pre-flight passenger communication, in-flight catering and comfort, medical preparedness and alternate aerodromes, customer service and support readiness, and intra-departmental coordination. DGCA said that due to recent developments involving international airspace closures and overflight restrictions, airline operations have been impacted. There are significant rerouting of international and regional flights, increased block times compared to scheduled durations, and possibility of technical halts enroute for operational or fuel requirements. Generally, block time refers to the duration of a flight from the origin to the destination. It is estimated that over 800 flights a week are likely to be impacted by longer flight times, increased fuel burn, and a few other complexities related to crew and flight scheduling, all of which would increase operational costs.
According to data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, currently there are almost 400 weekly westward international departures from North Indian airports-Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur and Lucknow-that were routinely flying over Pakistan. Given that all these flights have return legs, the total number of affected flights goes up to around 800 from these airports. Of these, around 640 flights are from or to India’s largest airport — Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport — which is likely to be the most affected due to the move by Pakistan The initial impact is already visible with Indian airlines’ flights from North India to West Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the UK, and North America’s eastern region switching from their routine paths to longer routes, adding anywhere between 15 minutes to a few hours to the journey, depending on the distance and the location of the destination.
In the pre flight passenger communication, the DGCA stated the airlines must inform passengers about routing changes due to airspace restrictions. “Communicate the revised total expected travel time (departure to arrival).
Notify passengers of any potential technical stopovers and clarify that such stops are operational in nature, with passengers generally remaining onboard. Deliver this information proactively at check-in, boarding gates, and, where feasible, through SMS and email alerts”, it said.
For in flight catering and comfort, the regulator said the operators must revise catering uplift based on actual expected block time, including technical halts and ensure provision of adequate meals, beverages, additional hydration, dry snacks, and any special meals per manifest requests.
It further advised to ensure sufficient medical kits and first-aid resources onboard for extended operations. “Validate that alternate airports have emergency medical support and ground ambulance availability. Brief cabin crew on managing passenger fatigue, discomfort, or medical incidents during prolonged flights”, DGCA said.
For customer service and support readiness, carriers must briefs the call centre and reservations teams about possible delays and schedule disruptions. Establish processes for managing missed onward connections and providing assistance to affected passengers. Prepare compensatory action plans for delays exceeding threshold limits, as per CAR (Civil Aviation Requirements) provisions.
Operators must ensure seamless coordination among Flight Dispatch/IOCC; Commercial and Customer Support teams, ground handling and airport operations, in-flight service providers and medical vendors at designated alternate airports.
DGCA stressed that all operators are to treat this advisory as mandatory guidance in the interest of passenger safety, comfort, and regulatory compliance. Non-compliance or passenger inconvenience resulting from failure to implement these measures may attract enforcement action under applicable civil aviation regulations. The circular comes into immediate effect and will remain valid until further notice.
Air India operates flights to West Asia, Europe, the UK, and North America, while IndiGo operates flights to West Asia, Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet’s west-bound international flights are to destinations in West Asia.
Meanwhile, the airspace disruption has already forced airlines like IndiGo to announce significant changes. IndiGo stated that around 50 international flights will operate on longer routes, and flights to Almaty and Tashkent have been cancelled from April 27 to at least May 7 due to range limitations on current fleet aircraft.
On Friday, IndiGo said that around 50 international routes operated by it will require longer sectors and hence may be subject to some schedule adjustments. “With the same restrictions and limited rerouting options, unfortunately Almaty and Tashkent are outside the operational range of IndiGo’s current fleet,” it had said. Flights to Almaty stand cancelled from April 27 until at least May 7 and to Tashkent from April 28 until May 7.