Major airlines are rerouting flights to avoid Afghanistan airspace as Taliban takes over Kabul, disrupting passenger services to India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
.@VirginAtlantic and @British_Airways flights to @HeathrowAirport from @DelhiAirport are now having to take a long detour in order to avoid #Afganisthan airspace. #AvGeek pic.twitter.com/cRep7OjBm1
— VT-VLO (@Vinamralongani) August 16, 2021
United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and flydubai have already all announced changes to flights to or over Afghanistan.
United Airlines rerouting some flights to avoid Afghanistan airspace https://t.co/2XPE3i9zB3
— #ThisIsTheConversation (@th_conversation) August 16, 2021
A spokesperson from Germany's Lufthansa informed CNN Business that it was "rerouting flights to avoid Afghan airspace until further notice. As a result, the flight time to India and other destinations will be extended by up to one hour."
On Monday, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) announced that commercial flights had been canceled out of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. However, evacuation flights organized by foreign governments were still taking off.
Air India was one of the few remaining airlines still running a regular service to and from Kabul prior to the announcement of the suspension of all commercial flights.
