Iran Airspace Closed: With Iran temporarily closing its airspace to commercial flights Thursday and tension mounting in West Asia due to uncertainty over US moves against the Tehran regime, India has begun taking steps to evacuate its nationals out of Iran.
There are about 10,000 Indians in Iran, from students and pilgrims in Qom’s seminaries and Mashaad to those in medical colleges in Tehran and Isfahan.
“In view of the evolving situation in Iran, the Ministry of External Affairs is making preparations to facilitate the return of Indian nationals who wish to travel back to India,” sources said Thursday, a day after the Indian embassy in Tehran urged Indian nationals to leave Iran and avoid protest sites.
Sources said the embassy is in touch with university students and authorities in Iran – many students have been duly registered and their personal details and passports have already been collected by the embassy.
The first batch of students has been instructed to remain ready by 8 am Friday for evacuation. The evacuation process is being coordinated by Indian authorities in close liaison with the embassy. In the coming days, flights are expected to bring back all students.
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday. (AP Photo)
The emergency contact helplines of the Indian embassy are: +989128109115, +989128109109, +989128109102, +989932179359. The email ID is: cons.tehran@mea.gov.in.
The closure of airspace ran for over four hours, according to pilot guidance issued by Iran, which lies on a key east-west flight route. International carriers diverted north and south around Iran, but after one extension, the closure appeared to have expired and several domestic flights were in the air just after 7 am.
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Indian airlines IndiGo and Air India are avoiding the Iranian airspace for the time being, impacting flight operations to various regions including Central Asia, the Caucasus, Europe and North America.
Pakistan’s ban on Indian aircraft from entering its airspace has been in place for months now, and if the Iranian airspace sees frequent closures or is deemed unsafe, problems for Air India and IndiGo’s flight operations to certain geographies could compound further. A number of West-bound flights of Indian carriers have been forced to take longer routes since late April 2025 when Pakistan banned Indian aircraft from overflying.
Avoiding the Iranian airspace would add about an hour of extra flying time for Air India’s flights to North America that take the westward routes, which means that passenger capacity on these would need to be pruned in order to carry extra fuel.
Sources said Air India is using the Iraqi airspace for its flights that routinely overflew Iran. As for IndiGo, which doesn’t fly to North America, operations to CIS countries, Turkey, and Europe have already been impacted with longer flying times and even some cancellations.
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If IndiGo has to continue operating flights to CIS countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia while completely avoiding Iran’s airspace, these services would require refuelling stops in third countries as the new flight paths would be beyond the range of the airline’s Airbus A320 aircraft. If the Iranian airspace becomes inaccessible in the foreseeable future, it could also force IndiGo to re-evaluate the viability of these flights given the range constraints of its narrow-body aircraft fleet, sources indicated.
Early Thursday, Iran’s sudden closure of its airspace for a few hours led to flight delays and cancellations for various international airlines, including Air India and IndiGo. Three US-bound flights of Air India – Delhi-New York, Delhi-Newark, and Mumbai-New York – were called back. One of the engines of the aircraft operating the Delhi-New York flight, upon the plane’s return, ingested a cargo container as it taxied during extremely low visibility. This led to substantial damage to the engine of the two-year-old Airbus A350 jet, and the incident is being investigated by aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Women cross a street under a huge banner showing hands firmly holding Iranian flags as a sign of patriotism, as one of them flashes the victory sign, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday. (AP photo)
Most IndiGo flights to and from the CIS countries, which routinely overflew Iran, were cancelled for Thursday and Friday. IndiGo’s flights to Istanbul and Europe faced delays Thursday as they had to take longer flight paths skirting the Iranian airspace. IndiGo’s Tbilisi-Delhi flight 6E1804 was the last non-Iran-registered passenger plane in Iranian airspace before the airspace was closed temporarily, according to Flightradar24. IndiGo’s Baku-Delhi flight 6E1804 had to return to Baku due to the Iranian airspace closure.
Although Iran opened its airspace after a few hours of temporary closure, industry sources said Air India and IndiGo continue to avoid the Iranian airspace for the time being given the unpredictable situation, and will be evaluating the situation on a day-to-day basis to ensure safe flight operations.
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“Due to the emerging situation in Iran, the subsequent closure of its airspace, and in view of the safety of our passengers, Air India flights overflying the region are now using an alternative routing, which may lead to delays. Some Air India flights where currently rerouting is not possible are being cancelled,” Air India said in a passenger advisory Thursday morning.
In its advisory, IndiGo said, “Due to the sudden airspace closure by Iran, some of our international flights are impacted. Our teams are working diligently to assess the situation and support affected customers by offering the best possible alternatives.”
