Clashes between nuclear-armed neighbours, India and Pakistan, on Wednesday sent airlines scrambling to cancel, divert or reroute flights.
The neighbours and longtime rivals exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier after India launched missile strikes in retaliation for a deadly attack last month.
Here is a round-up of what airlines are doing to avoid flying over the conflict zone.
Pakistan
Local news channel, Samaa reported that Pakistan had temporarily closed its airspace, suspending all domestic and international flights across all the country's airports, including Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Quetta.
The national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, had cancelled all flights for 12 hours
Indian carriers have met with the Civil Aviation Ministry to work on possible solutions, including flying over difficult terrain closer to China
India
IndiGo said on Wednesday it had cancelled 165 flights from 11 locations, including Srinagar in Kashmir, near the country’s north-western border with Pakistan. IndiGo, which operates over 2,200 flights daily, is among the worst impacted airlines due to fighting between India and Pakistan. Its shares had fallen as much as 3.1 percent and were trading 1 percent lower, as of 1:52 pm IST.
Flights belonging to Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air were also cancelled as India shut several airports.
South Korea
Korean Air has begun rerouting its flights from Seoul Incheon to Dubai, using a southern route that passes over Myanmar, Bangladesh and India, instead of the previous path through Pakistani airspace. “We are currently monitoring the situation for further changes,” a Korean Air official told AFP.
The two sides exchanged threats and diplomatic measures, culminating in Indian missile strikes early on Wednesday and a swift vow from Pakistan to "settle the score".
Taiwan
Taiwan’s China Airlines said several flights have been diverted or cancelled. Two flights from Taipei to Frankfurt and Amsterdam “made a technical diversion to Bangkok” before returning to the Taiwanese capital. Three flights from Taipei to Prague, Rome and London were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday. “China Airlines continues to monitor the situation and will adjust flight schedules as needed,” it said.
EVA Air said it will adjust flights to and from Europe “based on actual conditions to avoid affected airspace to ensure the safety of crew members and passengers”. A flight from Vienna to Bangkok will return to the Austrian capital while a flight from Taipei to Milan will be diverted to Vienna for refuelling and then continue to the Italian city, the airline said in a statement.
Russia
Russian national carrier Aeroflot said all its flights from Moscow to and from India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and the Seychelles would be rerouted.
Singapore
Singapore Airlines said its flights have been rerouted to avoid Pakistani airspace.
Malaysia
Malaysia Airlines rerouted two flights from Kuala Lumpur – one to London Heathrow and one to Paris Charles de Gaulle. They stopped in Doha before continuing their journeys. The carrier also suspended all flights to and from India's Amritsar until May 9.
Thailand
Thai Airways said it was rerouting flights to destinations in Europe and South Asia from 5:00 am on Wednesday (2200 GMT Tuesday) to avoid Pakistani airspace, warning of possible delays.
At least eight flights to European cities were affected, the airline said, while a return flight scheduled to go from Bangkok to Islamabad and back again on Wednesday was cancelled.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Airlines said its flights were unaffected and there is no change to its four weekly flights to Pakistan’s Lahore and Karachi.
UAE
According to The Independent, Gulf carriers like Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Flydubai cancelled flights to cities in northern Pakistan and India, including Lahore, Islamabad, Sialkot, and Amritsar. Emirates urged passengers “not to proceed to airports” in affected cities and confirmed that flights to Karachi remain operational.
KLM
A spokesperson for Dutch airline KLM said it was not flying over Pakistan until further notice.
