One of America’s biggest airlines, United Airlines has suspended flights to India on two routes. The airline has issued a statement where it clarified that due to ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, the airline is avoiding using Russian airspace. Delhi – San Francisco (SFO) and Mumbai – Newark (EWR) flights have been suspended as these two flights used to fly over Russian airspace.
United Airlines spokesperson said that the move is ‘temporary’, but didn’t give any further detail. However, United Airlines’ Delhi – Newark and Delhi – Chicago flights will continue to operate as they do not use Russian airspace.
In this scenario, Air India is the only airline to provide nonstop flights to the USA. Air India is operating non-stop flights between Delhi – San Francisco and Mumbai – Newark.
With the suspension of these international flights, the demand for Air India flights will gradually increase and many other airlines might announce new flights between USA and India. The industry insiders are watching this development carefully. Though United has said that this suspension is ‘temporary’ but airline industry experts are predicting that it could be for an indefinite time period.
Meanwhile, Russia has banned international flights from around 36 countries including Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Canada. Earlier, European Union (EU) chief Ursula von der Leyen had announced the 27-nation bloc’s decision to close its airspace to Russian airlines.
