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India-Pakistan conflict disrupts commercial flights

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Pakistan says 57 planes were overhead when India struck

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Airlines face growing operational headaches

(Updates story to show video is available for media

subscribers)

By Abhijith Ganapavaram, Ben Blanchard and Ariba Shahid

TAIPEI/NEW DELHI, May 7 (Reuters) - Airlines including

United Airlines and Korean Air re-routed or cancelled flights

and about a dozen Indian airports were shut on Wednesday after

India struck nine sites in Pakistan, raising fears of an

escalation.

India attacked Pakistani Kashmir and Pakistan said it had

shot down five Indian fighter jets in the flare-up, which

followed an attack by Islamist militants that killed 26 people

in Indian Kashmir last month. India said it hit "terrorist

infrastructure" related to the tourist killings. Pakistan

rejects that it has such camps on its territory.

Images from flight tracking websites showed a long line of

airlines passing over Oman, UAE and Kuwait after the attack,

raising the possibility of airspace congestion.

Authorities in Pakistan said 57 international flights were

in the country's airspace when India struck. Prime Minister

Shehbaz Sharif's office said India's action "caused grave danger

to commercial airlines" belonging to Gulf countries and

"endangered lives".

India's civil aviation ministry did not immediately respond

to a request for comment on Pakistan's remarks.

In the last few days, India and Pakistan had shut their

airspaces to each other's airlines. Global airlines like

Lufthansa have also been avoiding Pakistan's airspace.

"If the conflict continues, there is a chance that Pakistan

could impose a full airspace closure, as they did from Feb. to

Aug. 2019 under similar circumstances," aviation advisory body

OPSGROUP said in a blog post published Wednesday.

Domestic flights in both countries were also disrupted.

Three percent of scheduled flights in India and 17% of scheduled

flights in Pakistan were cancelled as of 1030 GMT, according to

Flightradar24.

India's top airline IndiGo said it was cancelling 165

flights till Saturday morning. Its shares were down 1.1%.

Flights belonging to Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air were also

cancelled.

Pakistan said its airspace was open following closure after

the attacks and that its airports were "fully functional."

Images from FlightRadar24 showed some civilian jets flying

over Pakistan airspace but India's northwest continued to be

deserted.

GPS SPOOFING CONCERN

The changing airline schedules are set to further complicate

operations in the Middle East and South Asia regions for

carriers, which are already grappling with the fallout from

conflicts in the two regions.

A spokesperson for Dutch airline KLM said it was not flying

over Pakistan until further notice. Singapore Airlines

said it had stopped flying over Pakistani airspace since May

6.

Korean Air said it had begun rerouting its Seoul

Incheon-Dubai flights on Wednesday, opting for a southern route

that passes over Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India, instead of the

previous path through Pakistani airspace.

United Airlines said it had cancelled its flight to Delhi,

citing in part "airspace limitations". The U.S. airline operates

one direct flight from Newark to New Delhi.

American Airlines ( AAL ) said it made adjustments to its

operations to New Delhi and would allow customers impacted by

the changes to change their plans without charge.

Thai Airways said flights to destinations in

Europe and South Asia would be rerouted starting early on

Wednesday morning, while Taiwan's China Airlines said

flights to and from destinations including London, Frankfurt and

Rome had been disrupted.

Flights from India to Europe were also seen taking longer

routes. Lufthansa flight LH761 from Delhi to Frankfurt took

about half an hour more to reach its destination compared to

Tuesday, according to FlightRadar24.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines voiced concern over

the impact of conflicts on airline operations.

"Apart from cost and operational disruption, there are

safety concerns as GPS spoofing interfering with flight

operations over conflict zones is one of the highest risks the

industry faces," it said in a statement.

GPS spoofing is a malicious technique that manipulates

Global Positioning System (GPS) data, which can send commercial

airliners off course.