IndiGo has closed the bookings for its Delhi - Baku flight following the closure of Iran airspace that has resulted in near doubling of the flight duration.
While the airline suspended its Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan) flights after the closure of Pakistan airspace, it has continued to operate services to Baku in Azerbaijan and Tbilisi in Georgia.
While tickets for the Baku route were not available for sale from Sunday afternoon, IndiGo has not formally announced any suspension of operations.
On Saturday its Delhi- Baku flight took over nine and half hours after taking a technical halt in Doha. Flight tracking website Flight radar24 shows the IndiGo aircraft (VT-IQM) crossed Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey on its way to Azerbaijan.
Prior to the shutdown of Iran and Iraq airspace, the Delhi-Baku flight was taking little over five hours which is still higher than what it clocked before April. The Baku flight on Sunday is also being operated via Doha. IndiGo did not respond to an email query on the topic.
Azerbaijan, a favourite among Indian tourists, has fallen out of preference over the country’s support to Pakistan post Pahalgam attack and India’s retaliatory strikes. On social media there has been a campaign urging consumers to boycott Azerbaijan and Turkey and travel firms too have stopped bookings to the two countries.