Air India is urging the Indian government to secure access to a sensitive stretch of Chinese airspace in Xinjiang as the carrier struggles with soaring costs and mounting delays triggered by Pakistan’s closure of its airspace to Indian airlines, according to “Reuters”. The appeal comes at a fragile moment. Direct India–China flights only recently resumed after a five-year freeze following a deadly Himalayan border clash, and Air India is still attempting to restore confidence in its international operations after a Boeing Dreamliner crash in Gujarat in June that killed 260 people and forced temporary cuts in service.
Pakistan’s ban, imposed in late April amid renewed diplomatic tensions, has upended Air India’s long-haul network. According to a document submitted to Indian officials in October and reviewed by Reuters, the airline’s fuel costs have jumped by as much as 29 percent, and flight times on some routes have stretched by up to three hours. Air India argues that limited access to emergency airports in Hotan, Kashgar, and Urumqi would allow it to reach North America and Europe more quickly by skirting Pakistan. The request is complicated by the fact that the region lies within the Chinese military’s Western Theatre Command, a zone tightly controlled by the People’s Liberation Army and ringed by some of the world’s highest mountains.
The pressures are already reshaping Air India’s routes. Its Delhi–Washington flight was suspended in August, and nonstop services from Mumbai and Bengaluru to San Francisco risk becoming untenable because of mandatory refueling stops. Foreign carriers that retain access to Pakistan’s airspace now match or even beat Air India on travel times, prompting passengers to shift away. Lufthansa’s San Francisco–Mumbai connection via Munich is now only minutes longer than Air India’s disrupted nonstop.
The airline estimates that access to the Chinese corridor could save more than $1 million per week by restoring fuel efficiency, recovering lost capacity on routes such as Delhi–New York and Delhi–Vancouver, and reducing operational strain. With no sign of the Pakistan ban easing, Air India is also asking for temporary government subsidies and assistance resolving legacy tax disputes worth hundreds of millions of dollars, warning that unresolved liabilities pose both financial and reputational risks as it tries to rebuild under Tata Group ownership.
