Air India starts using Iraq airspace for New York, Newark direct flights; likely to see 10% fuel savings

New Delhi/ Mumbai: Air India is now operating flights directly to New York and Newark without a stopover as the airline has started using Iraq airspace from this week, a move that has also reduced flight durations by around four hours, according to sources.

With the use of Iraq airspace, there will be around 10 per cent fuel savings as well as less burdensome crew requirements in terms of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), one of the sources told PTI.

The full service carrier, which has been significantly impacted by airspace curbs, including due to the West Asia crisis, operates one daily flight each to New York and Newark (in the US) from Delhi as well as Mumbai.


The source said there is now more flexibility in terms of airspace availability, which is allowing operations of direct flights to the two destinations in the east coast of the US.

With the use of the Iraq airspace from this week, the flight duration has been cut down by around four hours whereas earlier, the longer route through Jordan and Egypt resulted in increased flying hours, the source added.

As the airline's New York and Newark flights were making a stopover in Rome (Italy), the journey time increased further. With the stopover, the duration was around 20 hours and that has come down to about 16 hours, the source said.

The flights to New York and Newark are generally operated with Boeing 777 planes and sometimes, New York is also served with A350 aircraft.

The Tata Group-owned airline has been taking longer routes for its European and North American flights since early last year, following the Pakistan airspace closure for Indian carriers.

With longer routes and more flying hours, Air India is required to have additional crew members on these flights to ensure compliance with FDTL requirements.

The sources said as the flight durations will be less through the Iraq route, the airline will have more flexibility in terms of crew requirements.

Last month, a senior airline official said there was a big impact due to the airspace restrictions, including due to the West Asia crisis, and the impact is worse than last year.

"It is not just Pakistan's (airspace closure) impact now; there is also) Iran (conflict) impact," the official had said and mentioned airspace restrictions in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

"The more airspaces are closed, the more southwards flights have to go... the more southwards flights have to go, the more the fuel bill. So, it (airspace curbs) is worse than what we had last year," the official had said.