A day after Pakistan announced the opening of its airspace for civilian flights to and from India, American carrier United Airlines announced that it will resume its daily non-stop service connecting both Delhi and Mumbai to New York/Newark from September 7.

In a statement, the airline said the decision has been taken after “reviewing and re-evaluating plans”. It had stopped its daily non-stop service after the closure of the airspace over India and Pakistan in February.

Thanks to the closure of the airspace, other international airlines like Lufthansa were also forced to follow longer routes, which increased flights timings and cost of operations.

Lufthansa flights

George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales, South Asia, Lufthansa Group, said that from July 19, “all our flights from Frankfurt, Munich and Zürich will return to operate on regular routes to Delhi”. The Lufthansa Group includes Swiss, and Austrian apart from Lufthansa.

flydubai said it has revised its flight paths within the guidelines provided by its regulator after the opening of the Pakistan airspace on Tuesday morning.

Air India has estimated that with the opening of Pakistan air space its aircraft utilisation will go up while crew requirement will come down by 25 per cent. Flight operation costs for US-bound flights may come down by ₹20 lakh one way, it said.

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