Latest reports suggest that the Afghan airspace has now been closed for flights, which means overflying is also not permitted. Nonstop Air India flights from the US to India are being diverted in order to avoid the Afghan airspace. The flights are now being diverted to Doha or the UAE.
With the situation in Afghanistan getting dire by the hour, there is no telling what the future holds. Videos of people rushing to get a seat in an aeroplane are making the rounds of social media. Air India on the other hand had to cancel Delhi-Kabul flights amid the ongoing confusion. The announcement was made on Monday morning by the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA). The ACAA said that any transit through Kabul airspace would be uncontrolled.
International flights are bound to be affected now that the airspace is closed. Vistara has mentioned that its Delhi-London flights have stopped flying over Afghanistan. All flights between Delhi and the west will now have to take longer air routes.
An Air India official said, Afghan airspace has been declared uncontrolled. Due to that the Kabul flight had to be cancelled. We are working out alternate routes for another affected flights that needed to overly Afghanistan.”
Air India flight 244 from Kabul to Delhi for August 16 is now cancelled. The flight was reportedly fully booked and was scheduled to return to Delhi.