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Akbar Novruz

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IndiGo has cancelled its flights to Tbilisi, Almaty, Tashkent and Baku till January 28, citing the prevailing security situation in the region around Iran, the airline said on Sunday, Azernews reports.

"We remain vigilant to developments in the region around Iran and are proactively reviewing flight operations, with safety being our highest priority," IndiGo said in a post on X.

After a detailed assessment, the airline said it will not operate flights to and from Tbilisi in Georgia, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Tashkent in Uzbekistan, and Baku in Azerbaijan on January 26, 27 and 28.

IndiGo's flights to these destinations usually overfly Iranian airspace, which the airline is currently avoiding due to the evolving situation. IndiGo operates A320neo aircraft on these routes, which do not have the range and fuel capacity to operate on significantly longer alternative routings.

Flights from India to these cities generally take six to seven hours. On Sunday, the airline cancelled services on the Delhi-Tbilisi and Mumbai-Almaty routes.

The cancellations come amid rising tensions between Iran and the United States, with apprehensions that the situation could escalate into a military conflict.

Meanwhile, Air India, which had been using the relatively safer eastern portions of Iranian airspace for its flights to and from North America, is expected to reassess the situation once operations resume after a snowstorm disrupted services on the US East Coast.

Air India had earlier stopped overflying Iranian airspace on its Europe-bound flights following a January 16 advisory issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The advisory warned of heightened risks to civil aviation in the region.

"Given the ongoing situation and the potential for US military action, which has placed Iranian air defence forces on a heightened state of alert, there is currently an increased likelihood of misidentification within Iranian airspace," the advisory said.

It also cautioned that the presence and possible use of a wide range of weapons and air-defence systems, combined with unpredictable state responses and the potential activation of surface-to-air missile systems, posed a high risk to civil flights at all altitudes.

Following the advisory, Air India has not been overflying Iran on flights to and from Europe. The airline, like several other international carriers, is currently routing its flights via Iraqi airspace.

Once East Coast operations resume, Air India is expected to take a decision based on the situation at that time on whether to continue avoiding Iranian airspace or use the safer eastern portions.