Air India plans no extra costs for extra fly time

Air India, the Indian national flag carrier, has added extra flying time between Delhi and Gulf destinations, but has not passed on the higher fuel consumption and time costs to passengers, airline sources said yesterday.

They pointed out that with the closing down of Pakistan air space to Indian aeroplanes since tension between the two Subcontinental neighbours began last month, the only flights affected are those that originate from or go to Delhi.

These have now to be routed further south away from Pakistani air space, resulting in additional flying time of between 45 minutes to one and quarter hour for various Gulf locations – for example, the closest point in the Gulf to India is Muscat which now takes up to 45 minutes longer, while that to Jeddah would take up to one hour 15 minutes more.

This naturally, results in higher fuel costs as well as higher operational costs as the planes are being kept in the air for longer, sources pointed out.

However, the airline has taken a decision not to pass on the added costs to passengers. Also, the departure timings from the Gulf have been kept the same, with the extra time adjustments being made ex-Delhi.

The extra flying time is being compensated for by advancing the departure time from Delhi so as not to inconvenience ex-Gulf passengers, sources explained.

Flights to and from southern and western India have not been affected.

In addition to the longer flight time, there is the problem of fog delaying flights in and from Delhi around this time of the year.

Air India operates six flights from Dubai to Delhi and three from Delhi to Dubai per week.