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IndiGo’s full fleet of widebody aircraft, comprising six Boeing 787s that flew to respective planetary destinations, including London, Manchester and Amsterdam, has been grounded from the commencement of the Iran-Israel war past Saturday (February 28, 2026), arsenic the craft the Indian hose has loaned from the Norwegian bearer Norse cannot alert implicit West Asian countries owed to a European advisory, sources said.
While Indian carriers, including Air India, Air India Express, and SpiceJet proceed to alert to Oman and transportation retired restricted flying to parts of the UAE, including Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Al Fujairah, and clasp entree to Saudi airspace, a European aviation advisory has imposed a broad prohibition connected its airlines against overflying arsenic galore arsenic 11 countries successful the region, which by hold means IndiGo cannot usage Norse’s craft portion transiting done the banned aerial corridor.
Read: Iran-Israel warfare LIVE
The disruption is compounded by Pakistan’s continued closure of its airspace to aircraft operated by Indian airlines, leaving IndiGo with nary viable way arsenic it is restricted from flying implicit not 1 but 2 of the key airspace corridors connecting Europe and the U.S. to Asia.
The past IndiGo formation to a European destination flew from Mumbai to Amsterdam connected February 28, earlier the European advisory came into effect — it departed astatine 5 a.m. section time, and landed astatine 11.30 a.m. section time, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24.
IndiGo operates flights to London and Manchester from Delhi and Mumbai, and a Mumbai- Amsterdam service with varied play frequencies. It precocious terminated its flights to Copenhagen citing geo-political circumstances arsenic good arsenic the request for gathering reliable operations.
Five hours aboriginal connected the aforesaid day, a Delhi-London formation had to instrumentality a U-turn mid-flight implicit Oman and instrumentality to Delhi arsenic Iran and Iraq had were launching aerial strikes against each other.
IndiGo’s past Mumbai-London formation was connected February 27; past Delhi-Manchester formation was connected February 26; and past Manchester-Mumbai formation was February 24. Its services to Copenhagen were terminated successful February.
Under an advisory issued connected February 28, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has stated European airlines cannot alert implicit West Asia.
The EASA Conflict Zone Information Bulletin identifies 11 countries successful West Asia, including Iran, Iraq, Israel, and Saudi Arabia arsenic areas of “high risk” owed to subject activities, and requires airlines regulated by it to “not run wrong the affected airspace astatine each formation levels and altitudes”.
IndiGo did not reply to a query emailed to it connected the substance till the clip of going to press. They were engaging with Norse to reconstruct flights astatine the earliest, an authoritative of the hose said.
IndiGo’s flights to Athens, which it operates utilizing A321 XLRs nether Indian registration, are besides grounded owed to the duplicate airspace restrictions.
Air India is not taxable to the European advisory, arsenic the Boeing 777s, 787s and Airbus A350s it operates connected these routes are registered successful India, and the hose has since started taking a much southerly routing, avoiding Iran and overflying Oman and Saudi Arabia for its flights to Europe and North America.
European carriers, including Lufthansa, meanwhile, are capable to comply with the advisory by rerouting flights to overfly Pakistan alternatively of the Iranian airspace. That option, however, is unavailable to Indian airlines owed to the reciprocal airspace restrictions betwixt India and Pakistan since April 2025.
IndiGo took six Boeing 787s successful aboriginal 2025 connected damp lease (leased craft on with pilots, immoderate compartment crew, and engineering staff) from Norse to facilitate its Europe introduction from July 2025 onwards.
While IndiGo grapples with mounting airspace constraints, Air India has been ramping up its capableness to Europe and Canada, including by taking a substance halt successful Vienna and Rome. It besides plans to mount additional flights by removing craft from definite eastbound destinations, arsenic “demand for question via hubs specified arsenic Dubai and Doha has taken a hit”, a elder Air India authoritative said. Air India precocious added 3 much Delhi-Toronto flights to its regular formation schedule, and it is besides adding 3 Delhi-Frankfurt flights and 1 Delhi-Paris flights.
