Asian airlines including SIA and Scoot cancel and re-route flights due to India-Pakistan fighting

SINGAPORE: All Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Scoot flights have been avoiding Pakistani airspace and using alternative flight paths since Tuesday (May 6), a spokesperson said. 

This may result in slightly longer flight times for some flights, an SIA spokesperson said on Wednesday in response to queries from CNA. 

“SIA and Scoot will assist affected customers by accommodating them on alternative flights, if necessary.”

Scoot’s flights to and from Amritsar have also been cancelled until Friday due to the closure of Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport in the city.

A full refund will be given if affected passengers choose not to continue with their travel, a Scoot spokesperson said on Wednesday in response to queries from CNA. 

“We are monitoring the situation in South Asia closely and will continue to adjust our flight schedules as necessary.”

Several Asian airlines also said on Wednesday that they were re-routing or cancelling flights to and from Europe because of the fighting between India and Pakistan.

India launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of Wednesday, firing missiles on what it said were “precision strikes at terrorist camps” in Pakistan, while Islamabad said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed enemies.

Pakistan authorities said there were 57 international flights operating in Pakistan’s airspace when India struck, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement India’s action “caused grave danger to commercial airlines” belonging to Gulf countries and “endangered lives”.

India’s offensive occurred amid heightened tensions in the aftermath of an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir last month. 

More than two dozen commercial flights were diverted to avoid Pakistani airspace. By Wednesday morning local time, airlines had cancelled 52 flights to or from Pakistan, according to FlightRadar24.

There were 57 international flights operating in Pakistan’s airspace when India struck, according to a Pakistan army spokesperson.

Domestic flights in both countries were also disrupted. India shut several airports and as a result, flights belonging to Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air were cancelled. IndiGo shares were down 1.8 per cent.

Images from the flight tracking website showed that the northwestern airspace of India and Pakistan’s entire airspace were nearly free of civilian aircraft, barring a few flights.